


Return To The Sea

by Alchemygirl8



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-18 12:49:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16118813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alchemygirl8/pseuds/Alchemygirl8
Summary: Keith and Lance go to great lengths to protect their daughter from the wrath of Haggar's sister Cyrenna. But when she finds a locket with her name on it, things start to change. Will Cyrenna's plans succeed? Or can Keith and Lance find their daughter before it's too late?*Moved over from my account on Fanfiction.net*





	1. Under One Sun

 

It was a bright sunny day at sea. The royal vessel had just left the port and was sailing out to sea. On board were nobles and common people as well. Also on board was the prince, Lance. He was dressed in a pair of grey pants, a lighter grey blouse, a dark blue coat with gold epaulets on the shoulders, black boots, and a belt around his waist. Clipped to his belt was his sword in its golden sheath.

However, someone was missing from his side. That someone was in the nursery humming along to a song. Above the crib in the room, small lions hung from the mobile. There was a red lion, black lion, green lion, yellow lion, and a white lion. Inside the crib, lay a baby girl with lightly tanned skin, brown hair, and violet eyes. She laughed and lifted her arms and laughed as her mother picked her up from the crib.

Her mother was Keith. The former merprince of Altea, son and youngest child of King Shiro. He was dressed in a pair of black pants, a white blouse, a purple coat with golden epaulets on the shoulders, brown knee length boots, and a black belt around his waist. Keith smiled as his daughter smiled back at him. She was dressed in a purple dress with light blue trimmed ruffle on the bottom, a white thin jacket with a yellow bow around the collar.

“ _You are my world, my darling_

_What a wonderful world I see_

_You are the song I'm singing_

_You're my beautiful Sofia_ ”

Upon hearing the door opening, Keith turned and a smile, their daughter cooing upon seeing her father.

“ _Darling, we better be going_ ” Lance sang as he walked towards the two.

“ _Look at her, isn't she glowing?_ ” Keith sang back with a smile as he brushed through Sofia’s brown hair.

“ _She looks divine, and you look exquisite_

_But look at the time_ ” Lance started to push Keith gently out of the room. The former merman’s eyes widened as he realized that Lance was right about the time.

“ _Couldn't be, is it?_ ” Keith asked as they exited the room.

“ _The crew is awaiting your orders_ ” Colleen sang as she stood beside Coran outside the door.

“ _We're sailing away from our borders_ ” the captain called from the wheel of the ship.

“ _Steady, boy, steady_ ” a crew member said as he and a group of the crew lifted up the final decorations.

“ _Ahoy there, they're coming!_ ” a crew member from the crows nest yelled to the group.

" _Trumpeters ready, drummers start drumming_ ” Coran called out as the musicians on board began to play.

Keith and Lance walked down the stairs, Sofia in Keith’s arms and Lance’s arm around his waist. The guests on board turned and smiled as they caught sight of the royal family. Colleen and Coran following behind them.

“ _Down to the sea we go_

_Down to a world I know_

_There's never been, not ever before_

_A child born of sea and shore_ ”

Lance smiled as his husband sang softly. Their daughter was born of merfolk blood and of human blood. The guests and crew on board couldn’t help but join in song as the family walked by.

“ _Down to the sea we go_

_Back to the world we know_

_A journey to bless the princess to be_

_Under the sun and under the sea_ ”

Blue, Lance’s dog peaked over the edge of the boat. She caught sight of Pidge who in her dolphin form had jumped out of the water and caught sight of the royal vessel. She dived down to Hunk who was in his merman form and she changed into her mermaid form and smiled at her friend.

Hunk was older now, he had grown taller and his hair was grown longer. Pidge had also changed, her hair was now to her shoulders, she no longer had the green headband in her hair as she had grown out of that phase. She still wore her glasses that matched with Matt’s, and she now had gold stud earrings in her ears. Though their animal forms had stayed relatively the same.

“ _Keith's coming…_ ” Pidge announced and Hunk felt excitement and joy rush through him. He sped off announcing to every one of the prince’s return. The sea creatures started swimming to the meeting place where the merfolk and sea creatures would meet the child born of sea and shore.

“ _What's all the big commotion_

_That's spreading through the ocean?_

_From sea to shining sea_ ”

Slav had noticed the commotion with the animals as he was conducting a practice with the band and turned his head in confusion. It was then that he remembered what it was.

“ _There is no hesitating_

_Today we're celebrating_

_Keith's little Sofia_ ” 

The sea creatures continued to swim to the surface as Slav continued to sing.

“ _Today when Shiro's son_

_Comes back into the water_

_We're gonna have a spree_

_The boat is nearer now_

_I think I hear her now_

_Keith’s little Sofia_ ”

Upon seeing the sea creatures heading to the surface, the merfolk of Altea knew it was time. Keith’s sisters led the people up to the surface as they joined the sea creatures. Shiro would come later as it was custom for the king to make an entrance.

“ _Up from the sea we rise_

_Up to the world of skies_

_There's never been, not ever before_

_A child born of sea and shore_ ”

Slav caught up with Hunk and Pidge and as they breached the surface, Slav jumped onto one of the chains from the anchor that was attached to the ship. Matt flew down in his seagull form and splashed into the water beside his sister. Matt had also grown a little bit over the past two years.

“ _Up from the sea we rise_

_Up to the world of skies_

_Forever to be together as one_

_Under the sea and under the sun_ ”

Keith smiled seeing the merfolk and sea creatures that had gathered for the celebration. He smiled seeing his sisters who waved and smiled at the sight of the little girl in his arms. He waved at Hunk, Pidge, Matt, and Slav who waved back with smiles. Slav smiled seeing the prince grown up now. He had changed from the 18 year old he used to be. Sofia definitely took after Keith, but also Lance.

“ _This is your world, my darling_

_One world, the land and sea_

_My hope for you for always_

_Is that your heart will hold part of me_ ”

The group turned as swords began to rise out the water. Lance moved closer to Keith not sure of who was arriving. Keith smiled as he caught sight of his father’s trident and Lance relaxed seeing the familiar sign of the king.

Shiro used his magic to raise himself up to the side of the boat. A smile on his face as he caught sight of his son, son-in-law, and granddaughter.

“ _Down to the sea we go_ **_(Up from the sea)_ **

_Down to the world below_ ”

Keith smiled hearing everyone singing. Sofia squirmed in his arms as she caught sight of her grandfather.

“ _Together we come_

_Forever to be_

_Under one sun_

_The land and the sea_ ”

Shiro felt joy as Sofia smiled at him. He turned and used his magic to create a rainbow across the ship. Much like he had done when Keith and Lance had gotten married. The crowd cheered and Sofia giggled at the sight in her mother’s safe arms. From above in the crows nest, a sailor tossed down some rose petals which fluttered down softly.

“My precious Sofie,” Shiro said as he used the nickname for the giggling infant. He pulled out something and then opened his hands to reveal it was a golden seashell locket, which had her name engraved on it. “I'm giving you this locket so that you will never forget that part of your heart will always belong to the sea,” Shiro opened the locket and an orb floated out of the locket.

Inside the orb was an image of the underwater castle in Altea. Merfolk swimming around the palace happily. A song played in the background, which Keith recognized as Sofia’s lullaby. Upon seeing his daughter coo at the gift, Keith sent his father a smile. Shiro, upon seeing his granddaughter so happy, smiled back and eventually closed the locket up.

He placed the locket around Sofia’s neck, just as a dark purple tentacle rose up from the water. Keith’s eyes widened when the tentacle wrapped itself around Sofia and the baby was ripped from his arms.

“Sofia!” he called out, Lance stepped up beside him his hand on the hilt of his sword.

A woman rose out of the water, she stood on top of two manta rays who swam around. The woman, however, was half human and half octopus. She had purple skin, white hair, and yellow eyes. Her tentacles were dark purple with black on the underside. Around her neck was a black necklace with three dark indigo jewels.

“A party!” she exclaimed as the sky turned dark.

“Haggar’s crazy sister!” Slav exclaimed as the woman approached the ship.

“I didn't miss the cake and ice cream, did I?” she asked with a laugh, Sofia still in one of her tentacles. Shiro’s eyes widened as he realized who the woman was.

“Cyrena(1),” he growled out. The trident in his arms glowed upon sensing his anger. “Surrender the baby or I'll--” Shiro started to say but Cyrena shook her finger.

“Ah, ah, ah,” she tsked and gave Sofia a gentle kiss on the cheek. She then used her tentacles to climb the side of the ship. “Haggar would have simply loved to have come but something came up,” Colleen and Coran watched as the woman sat on the edge of the ship in thought. “Now-Now, what was it? Oh, yes. You all shish-kebabbed her!”

Keith watched in horror as Cyrena bounced his daughter up and down with her tentacle. Lance drew him close as he tried to calm his husband down. He to was worried about the safe being of his daughter.

“One minute you're on top, the next you're sushi,” Cyrena then pulled Coran close to her and brushed his mustache gently with a sick smile on her face. “Now, is that fair? I ask you,” Cyrena then pushed Coran back and he ended up tripping on Colleen's orange and white dress and into her arms. “But then, whoever said we had to play fair?” she commented as she played with Sofia’s hair and gave Keith, Lance, and Shiro a look. “Oh Myzak!” she called.

From behind the crowd of merfolk, a grey fin raised out of the water. The fin moved up to reveal a shark with dark purple on the underside which faded into grey towards the top. The shark plowed through the crowd, tossing merfolk to the side that were in his way.

“Make way, little mershrimp! I'm comin' through!” the shark continued to swim until he reached the boat. Myzak tilted his body out of the water and opened his mouth. Keith watched the shark open his mouth and out of the corner of his eye saw Cyrena slowly lower Sofia to the open mouth. His eyes widened and he gasped with an outreached arm.

“Now hand over the trident, or your precious granddaughter will be shark chow!” Cyrena demanded, giving Shiro a taunting look.

“You can have anything you want,” Shiro started to say in a surrendering tone. The trident stopped glowing and he looked to Cyrena. “Just don't harm Little Sofie,” he begged to the woman.

“Well, I’ll get the trident”, Cyrena started to say as she moved away from the shark. Myzak closed his jaw and watched as Cyrena moved along the edge of the boat to the trio who kept their eyes on the baby girl. “Avenge poor, unfortunate Haggar,” Keith tuned out the woman and noticed a rope beside him. The rope was tied to one of the masts and an idea formed in his head. “And gain all the powers of the ocean!” Cyrena cried out catching the former merprince’s attention. “And it's not even 10 0’clock, not a bad morning.”

Keith glared at the woman and turned to Lance. Before his husband could stop him, Keith grabbed the sword and cut the rope beside him. Lance’s eyes widened as he saw the mast coming and ducked down with Keith.

“Hit the deck!” he yelled to the others.

Before Cyrena could move she was hit by the mast and knocked off the side of the ship. Sofia flew from her tentacle and into the air. Cyrena ended up landing on top of her two manta rays and splashing into the water. Sofia flew in the air giggling to herself. Myzak jumped out of the water and opened his jaw, intending to catch the princess in his mouth.

Lance caught sight of his daughter flying through the air and left Colleen to help Keith. Lance grabbed a loose rope and swung off the ship, catching his daughter in his arms just as Shiro used his trident to turn Myzak into a small shark.

“Sofie!” Keith gasped out as he grabbed Sofia from Lance’s arms and into his shaking ones 

“What have you done to me? Look at me! I'm an anchovy!” Myzak shrieked out in anger. He glared up at the sea king before swimming after Cyrena. Cyrena turned to Shiro and glared at the king.

“This isn't the end, Shiro! It's just the beginning!” she shouted as she started to spin and let out ink. She muttered a spell and the ink became a tornado of black ink, her rays and Myzak disappeared into the tornado.

“After her!” Shiro yelled to his guards who quickly swam after her. The crowd of merfolk swam away as the tornado became bigger and sunk below the surface.

“You'll never find me, but I'll find you” Cyrena shouted as she disappeared along with her rays, Myzak, and the tornado. “And your precious granddaughter!” Keith and Lance held Sofia close to them as Cyrena’s laughs echoed, even after she had disappeared.

“We shall not rest until that madwoman is vanquished!” Shiro yelled as he shot lightning into the still dark storm clouds. “Find her!” he yelled and he echoed again to get his guards moving.

“Find her!”

* * *

 

A few hours later, the sun had started to set. Shiro had sent Keith and Lance back home while his guard searched the waters for Cyrenna. Keith and Lance walked down to the beach to meet with Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, Matt, and Slav. Sofia was crawling on the ground under Hunk and Pidge’s watch as Keith and Lance spoke with Shiro.

“I'm sorry. There is no sign of her. She's vanished,” Shiro said with a frown. “We'll keep trying,” Shiro said as he tried to make light of the situation. Keith glanced down and saw his daughter start to crawl towards the sea. Fear gripped him and he picked her up into his arms, water dripping off her dress.

“Sweetie, no,” Keith said as Lance stepped up beside him. “Oh, we've got to keep Sofia away from her,” Keith said as he gave his father a saddened frown. “Until Cyrenna is found, Sofie can't go in the sea,” Keith said looked to his daughter. He took a deep breath and spoke his next words carefully with a sad look on his face “And neither will I,” the group’s eyes widened

“But Keith…” Hunk said with a frown. Keith turned to his friends and father who all shared a similar look.

“I'm sorry, guys,” he said softly. “But if Cyrenna is anything like Haggar, she'll never give up,” Keith turned back to Sofia who had put the locket in her mouth. “This is the only way,” Shiro could feel his heart breaking, as could everyone else. Keith pulled the seashell locket off Sofia and slowly handed it back to his father. “Sofia can't know about merpeople or Altea...or even you, Dad,” Shiro sighed as his hand closed around the chain that the locket was attached to. In his heart, he knew Keith was right.

“Very well, Keith, you're right,” Lance wrapped his arms around Keith as the former merprince started to cry softly. His heart broke as he realized that by the separation, Keith wouldn’t be able to see his family or friends again.

Shiro turned and slowly swam away, the other following after saying their goodbyes to the couple. Shiro turned to Slav who was perched on a rock.

“Slav, you will watch over Sofie,” he whispered to the crab. Slav’s eyes widened.

“Me? Aww!” he said before fainting into the water.

Shiro and the group(excluding Slav) continued to swim a distance from the shore. Keith and Lance had walked up the stairs that led to the palace to start plans to build the wall. Shiro stared at the locket sadly before lowering his hand into the water and letting the locket slip from his hand. The locket continued to sink down to the bottom of the ocean, where it would sit, waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want to see the outfits in this AU? Check out my DeviantArt account under the name animelover8224. The outfits will be under the fold titled Klance Little Mermaid 2 AU in my gallery.
> 
> Chat with me on my Tumblr if you'd like. Feel free to ask me anything there, my ask box is always open.  
> https://alchemygirl8.tumblr.com/


	2. Birthday Ball Disaster

11 years later, a wall had been built around the kingdom. The wall had been built by King Lance and King Keith to protect their daughter Princess Sofia from the evil witch Haggar’s younger sister Cyrenna. The wall let in the ships and boats but kept sea creatures out.

At the moment Keith was looking for his daughter.

“Sofia?” Keith called as he walked to the ballroom. It was there that he ran into Colleen who had a pile of fresh towels in her arms. “Colleen, have you seen Sofia?” Colleen shook her head softly.

“Not since this morning, Your Majesty” Colleen commented as she headed off to put the towels away.

Keith sighed and headed to the kitchen, Lance was also busy searching the castle for their missing daughter. Keith knew that Sofia liked to hang out with the chef on some occasions and hoped she would be in there.

“Chef, Sofia’s not in here is she?” Keith asked as he entered the kitchen, the chef turned and shook his head. Currently, he was on top of a ladder placing candles on top of the six-layer white and purple cake.

“No, Your Highness, but her birthday cake is. Twelve petite candles,” Keith smiled and closed the door as the chef almost fell off the ladder. Keith continued on with his search for his missing daughter.

Keith eventually ran into Lance who had also been searching for their daughter.

“Any sign of her?” Keith asked but Lance shook his head with a sigh.

“No, you?” Keith shook his head as well. Lance wrapped an arm around his husband’s shoulders. “Well I have the guards and servants searching for her as well” Keith nodded. “We should go get ready, before Coran finds us and yells at us,” Keith cracked a smile and followed Lance to their bedroom to get ready for the party.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, outside the wall, Slav was climbing a rock that stood above the ocean surface. “‘Slav, you watch over her," he said,” Slav commented as he jumped from rock to rock. “I'm too old for this! A crab my age should be retired, getting a tan, playing sea golf, sipping a tuna colada!” Slav throughout his yelling hadn’t noticed that Matt had landed beside him on the rock.

Slav jumped into the water and sunk to the ocean floor. “Not babysitting another teenager,” he said with a sigh. Slav walked along the ocean floor in search of the princess. He finally found her, swimming with a dolphin.

Her brown hair tied in a ponytail with a purple bow, her bangs loose as she swam, the sun from above reflecting off her lightly tanned skin. She was dressed in a pair of white billowy pants, a white tank top, and no shoes on. Over her shoulder was her brown bag.

“Sofia!” Slav called out to the princess. Of course, Sofia had already started swimming towards the surface and didn’t hear the crab. Slav sighed and followed the princess up to the surface.

Sofia breached the surface and climbed up onto a rock, water dripping off her clothes, bag, and hair. She sat on the rock and noticed Matt and waved to the bird. Of course, Matt being a mermaid, had to stay in his bird form around the young princess. Slav at this point had climbed the rock and panted in exhaustion. He really was getting to old for this.

“Hey, Matt. Hey, Slav, what's kickin'?” Sofia asked as she wrung the water out of her hair.

“Uh, what's kickin'? Hmm. L-Let me see,” Matt bonked his head three times causing the princess to giggle. “Don't rush me,” Matt said as he continued to think. Slav turned to the princess angrily and glared at her.

“You know perfectly well what's kicking!” Sofia rolled her eyes at the crab’s reprimanding. She stood up as Slav continued to talk.

“Now, come along. You gonna be late for the--” before Slav could finish his sentence, Sofia jumped into the water and caused a huge wave to crash onto Slav. The crab coughed up water as Sofia giggled and moved her bangs out of her face.

“Sorry, Slav,” Sofia commented with a smile on her face and swam up to the crab on the rock

“Sofia, child, how many times do I have to tell you?” Sofia rolled her eyes as Slav repeated what he says every time. Only this time, Sofia spoke at the same time he did, a finger in the air and a serious look on her face.

“It is expressly forbidden for you to be swimming beyond the safety of the sea wall,” Slav noticed and slowly trailed off.

“Beyond the safety of the sea wall--” Sofia, however, continued with the lecture.

“Any such swimmin' is a reckless disregard of the rules don't ya know?” Sofia smiled at Slav who did not look impressed.

“Stop that,” Sofia giggled and backed up a little bit.

“Oh Slav, I can't help it I just love the sea!” Sofia then dove down and caused another wave to hit Slav.

“Hey!” Slav yelled as the princess dove out of sight. “Come back here!” Slav yelled as he jumped in after her. “You're just like…” Slav trailed off as he recognized this behaviour. Keith acted the same way with the human world when he was younger. “Like your mother,” Slav finished with a soft smile.

Sofia continued to swim down, passing many schools of fish. She noticed a light purple shell and picked it up to analyze it. She placed it in her bag and continued on. A dolphin swam by with a pink shell in its mouth, he showed it to Sofia who gave a thumbs up and opened her bag for the shell to be placed in.

Sofia swam off and passed a hole in the seafloor that went deeper. A sparkle caught her eye and she quickly swam back and poked her head over the edge to see what it was. Whatever it was, continued to sparkle in the sun. Sofia kicked off the edge and dove down to collect what was sparkling.

She picked it up in her hands and examined the piece. It was a golden seashell, however, the shell had a rope around it. The shell was covered in ocean grime and was hard to see. Sofia put in her bag and swam up the surface to get a better look at it.

* * *

 

Elsewhere, in a frozen part of the ocean, flashes of green magic could be seen outside of a frozen lair.

“Trust me! This time I'm sure I've got it right” Cyrenna commented as she finished the spell. Myzak rolled his eyes as he swam from behind her into the position.

“Yeah, that's what you said last time, and I was sore for a week,” Cyrenna rolled her eyes and lined up her hands to where Myzak was.

”Oh, stop your carping and stand still,” the shark whimpered as he readied himself for what was to come.

“Oh, this is gonna hurt,” the shark commented as he curled himself up as best he could. Cyrenna raised her arms and pointed to Myzak, a single green lightning strike came from the cauldron and hit Myzak directly.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Cyrenna yelled as Myzak started to turn into his huge shark form from before Shiro changed him into a baby shark.

“Uh-oh,” Myzak groaned as the spell backfired and instead he shrunk into a purple and grey shrimp. Cyrenna growled and grabbed a potion bottle with her tentacle and threw it into the cauldron. This time the spell changed Myzak into a sea slug. Cyrenna slapped her forehead and threw multiple potions into the cauldron. The spells changed Myzak into a bunch of mutated creatures before changing him back into his small shark form. Her rays laughed at her failed attempts, but also at the shark’s predicament.

“Oh, it's just no use,” Cyrenna moaned as she collapsed on her seat. “The power of the trident is just too strong for me to overcome,” Myzak rolled his eyes.

“I bet Haggar could've done it,” he grumbled under his breath. Cyrenna turned at her sister’s name and anger filled her.

“What was that you said?” she growled as he grabbed a potion bottle in one of her tentacles.

“Nothin'. I'm just sayin'--” Myzak started to say but before he could finish, Cyrenna threw the potion bottle at him. The bottle broke behind him against the wall, Myzak had ducked just in time and glared at the woman.

“Stop criticizing me!” she yelled angrily at the shark. “That's all my mother ever did was criticize me!” Cyreena growled as she picked up a sea star. “It was always "Haggar this" or "Haggar that" or, "Cyrenna, why can't you be more like your sister Haggar!"” Cyrenna yelled as she threw the sea star in anger to a post of her sister.

“Well, it isn't Haggar's fault I got miniaturized. It's yours!” Myzak snapped at the witch.

“Is not!” Cyrenna snapped back at Myzak swam closer.

“Your fault that we had to hide out here for twelve frostbitten years,” Myzak snapped again.

“Is not!” Cyrenna yelled in denial again.

“Your fault that we can never show our faces in polite society again!”

“You're really pushing it, small fry” Cyrenna growled as they went nose to nose to each other. 

Suddenly the cauldron lit up and caught both of their attention. Green smoke lifted from the cauldron and created a floating orb image. The two swam over, argument forgotten, and watched the orb create an image of Sofia sitting on the rock with Slav and Matt. In her hands, sat the golden seashell locket.

“It's the locket!” the two exclaimed in unison.

“This is just the kind of break in the ice we've been waiting for,” Cyrenna said as a plan started to form in her head.

“When Keith’s innocent little daughter uncovers the secret of that locket she's going to have lots of questions. And who'll be right there with all the answers?” Cyrenna asked waiting for Myzak to answer.

“We will,” Myzak chuckled out as he caught on to the plan.

“Exactly!” Cyrenna cried out with a huge smile “she'll be the perfect tool for Shiro's undoing.”

“And I'll get to be big again,” Myzak commented with a smile.

“Finally I'll succeed at the one thing my sister never could,” Cyrenna said as both she and Myzak tuned each other out.

“Really, really big again!” Myzak repeated as he got really happy.

“Total domination of the seas!” Cyrenna commented as she grabbed Myzak’ fins and started to do an underwater waltz.

“I'll be huge!” Myzak yelled again, still happy on being back to his original size once the plan succeeded.

* * *

 

It was now sunset and Sofia was still sitting on the rock, entranced by the golden seashell she had found.

“Sofia, please. If your parents ever found out you'd been swimming out here, especially your mother--” Sofia sighed and interrupted Slav’s sentence.

“I know, I know. They'd flip,” Sofia tossed the shell into her bag and dove into the water once more. This time, no wave hit Slav. Matt walked around in search of something.

“I had a thought here. Now, where'd it go?” Slav rolled his eyes as the shifter looked under a rock for his “thought”. Sofia floated on her back and stared up at the sky.

“Hey, Slav,” she asked getting the crab’s attention. “What's my mom got against the ocean anyway?” she moved off her back and laid against a rock and watched as two dolphins jumped out of the water in the distance. “I mean, how could there be anything wrong with something so..wonderful?” Sofia turned back to Slav, the crab shrugged his shoulders. Sofia giggled and swam back over to the rock he was sitting on.

“You know what? Sometimes I even pretend I have fins,” Sofia whispered and giggled after. Slav’s eyes widened and he ended up falling over in shock. Sofia swam to another rock and faced the wall, the palace peeking over the wall. “I wish I could tell my mom how I feel,” she said with a sigh and laid her head on her arms. “But he'd never understand,” she turned back to Slav who had sat back up “I can talk to crabs, but not to him.”

Matt picked up another small rock and then his thought came back to him.

“Wait a minute,” he tossed the rock in the air and turned to the pair who was watching him “It just hit me,” the rock he tossed fell down and hit him on the head. “How 'bout you tell Keith how you really feel?” Slav groaned and slapped himself in the face with a claw. Sometimes, he wondered how he and Pidge were related.

“Just waltz right in and tell him you been out here swimming in the ocean!” Slav yelled making Matt winced. The shifter realized how bad of an idea that was but chose to say nothing. “We could all just have a big party,” Slav groaned, Sofia’s eyes widened and she gasped. Realization hit her and she swam off towards the wall, Slav following in suit.

* * *

 

Keith and Lance had just finished getting ready. Lance was dressed in black pants, brown knee length boots, a white blouse, a light blue jacket with gold epaulets on his shoulders, and his crown on his head. Keith was dressed in black pants, brown boots, a light grey blouse, dark purple jacket with gold epaulets on his shoulder, and his crown on his head. Both Lance and Keith’s crowns were matching gold with red and blue jewels.

“Still no sign of her,” Keith sighed as he fiddled with his jacket sleeves. Lance sat next to him on their bed and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Relax, there’s still time, maybe go and take Blue for a walk?” Lance suggested and Blue’s head popped up at the mention of her name. “That always calms you down,” Keith sighed but nodded.

“Fine.”

* * *

 

Underneath the wall, Sofia and Slav made their way back through the gates and to the palace. When she was younger, Sofia had found a faulty pole and used it to get in and out without going over and being seen.

The two popped out of the water and Sofia smiled. Though, her smile faded when she heard the familiar barking of the family dog Blue. She ducked her head as Keith came into view, though Keith was supposed to be calming himself down, he couldn’t help but still search for his daughter.

Sofia and Slav ran over to the wall, overtop of them was an open window. Sofia tossed her bag up and climbed up onto the ledge. Slav climbed the vines that were growing against the wall and met Sofia on the window ledge. Sofia hid behind a storage cupboard as a servant with a tray walked by, though he didn’t notice the princess.

Sofia let out the breath she had been holding and opened her bag for Slav to jump into. She peeked into the ballroom, and seeing that nobody was paying attention, ran past. Thinking the coast was clear, Sofia backed up, but ended up bumping into a girl.

The girl had lightly tanned skin, light brown hair, and purple eyes with pink eyeshadow on the lids. She was dressed in a red and orange ball gown. With her was another girl with black hair, pale skin, and teal eyes. She was dressed in a pink and magenta ball gown. With them was a boy with pale skin, light brown hair, and brown eyes. He was dressed in black pants, a white blouse, dark teal jacket, and dark brown knee length boots.

The girl with brown hair turned and Sofia felt her cheeks grown hot.

“Oh, Your-Your Highness,” the girl said as Sofia back away from her.

“Sorry. My fault”. The girl looked down as she saw a strand of seaweed was on her dress, the three shared a similar smile as Sofia slowly walked around them to get to the staircase. “I gotta go. Can't go to the party without shoes,” as Sofia vanished the three went into a conversation. It was as if they knew Sofia was still on the staircase listening.

“If you ask me, she's a little strange,” the first girl commented, the second girl nodded

“I agree.”

“I heard she actually talks to fish,” the boy commented and the group burst into laughter at his comment. Sofia glanced down to Slav sadly and headed up the stairs to her room.

* * *

 

Keith and Blue walked to the small pond that formed from where the gate let in salt water from the ocean. Blue jumped fight in and started splashing around. Keith approached the shore and smiled at the dogs' happiness. Keith’s hand grazed the wall and his gaze lifted up to the sky where seagulls were flying above it.

“I miss you, Dad, I wish you could be here with us,” Keith sighed and lowered his head. He then popped it up to see if anyone was around. Seeing no one, Keith slid out of his boots and rolled his pants up to his knees. Blue watched as he stepped into the water and sighed as he felt the salt water roll over his feet. He closed his eyes as he remembered what it was like to swim in the ocean, and how much he missed it.

“Mother?” Sofia’s voice called from her balcony. Keith jumped and turned around to find his confused daughter tilting her head “What are you doing?” Keith chuckled nervously and walked out of the water.

“Uh, nothing,” Sofia walked back into her room and sighed “I'll be right up!” Keith called as he fixed his pants and pulled his boots back on.

Sofia’s eyes widened. She was already dressed in the purple and white ruffle dress that had made for her, her hair was wrapped in a towel still a little wet from her bath. She quickly pulled the towel off her hair and brushed through it quickly. Sofia opened her shoe wardrobe and grabbed the matching white Mary Jane heels for her dress.

Slav jumped onto her vanity and pulled down the purple belt that went around her waist and held it up for her. Sofia was bouncing up and down as she struggled to get her other shoe on.

“Sofie?” Keith called from behind her closed door, Sofia backed up and grabbed the belt from Slav, though the crab forgot to let go and ended up being tied with the belt in a bow around the princess’s waist. Sofia tied her hair a ponytail quickly and then slid on her crown.

Her door started opening and Sofia, upon seeing her bag out in the open, kicked it under the vanity. Her door opened and in walked Keith, followed by Blue.

“I'm ready,” Sofia said as she bowed slightly, her crown slipped forwards and her bangs fell in front of her eyes. Keith smiled and headed over behind the chair, which Sofia know sat down in.

“Here. Let me help,” Keith said as he grabbed her hairbrush and untied her ponytail, Sofia placed her crown on her vanity and sighed.

“So, we're having a bad hair day,” Lance commented from the open door. Keith had found him on the way up and told him that their daughter was in her room. Keith gave a playful glare to his husband who had a cheeky smile on his face.

“If we were, you wouldn't be helping, would you?” Keith teased back, Lance chuckled.

“Well, I'm just here to let you know there are a lot of people downstairs,” Keith rolled his eyes. He waved his free hand to shoo Lance away

“Oh, we'll be right down. Give us two minutes.”

“Right, two…” Lance chuckled as he closed the door. “Now where have I heard that before?” Lance said as he rolled his eyes and waited for the two to finish.

Sofia was quiet as Keith brush through her hair. Her hair wasn’t thick, but after being washed, it was being difficult.

“Mom,” Sofia said with a sigh, her shoulders slumping “put the brush down, it’s hopeless” though Keith continued to brush it.

“Oh. You look beautiful,” Keith commented as he tied Sofia’s hair into a ponytail.

“Do I have to do this?” Sofia asked as Keith tied a white ribbon into a bow overtop of the ponytail. “Everybody thinks I'm weird,” she commented remembering the comments by the group she ran into on her way to her bedroom.

“Oh, honey, everyone has trouble fitting in at your age,” Keith said trying to comfort his daughter. “I know I did,” Keith commented remembering being like her in Altea. “I was a regular fish out of water,” Keith mumbled as a joke.

“You? No way,” Sofia commented as she got out of the chair and walked towards her balcony, her heels clicking against the tile. “I'm just so afraid I'm gonna make a total fool of myself,” Sofia said as she leaned against the railing and watched a dolphin jump out of the ocean and then splash back in.

“Sofie, this isn't just about the party is it?” Keith asked as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Is there something you want to talk about?” he asked softly “you know you can always tell me anything.” Keith gave his daughter a look and Sofia sighed.

“Well, okay. I mean, it's kind of crazy and sort of impossible. Now, don't freak, but what I dream about more than anything in the whole world-” before she could finish a knock on the balcony windows interrupted her.

“How's it coming?” Lance asked, Keith moved out the way and Lance’s eyes widened seeing his daughter.

“Oh, Sofie, Is that you? You look beautiful,” Sofia’s cheeks turned red and Keith nodded in agreement.

“He's right,” Keith said with a chuckle as him and Lance led Sofia out of her bedroom. “Now, we'll talk later,” Keith said as they walked downstairs “You're going to have a wonderful time tonight. Trust me.”

* * *

 

Music played from the ballroom as Keith, Lance, and Sofia found Colleen and Coran.

“There you are,” Coran said as the song soon ended. Colleen was dressed in a red off the shoulder gown with sheer sleeves, a red bow in her hair.

“Ready?” Coran asked the royal couple, Lance nodded and the music stopped.

“Their Royal Highnesses, Prince Lance and Prince Keith,” the guests clapped as Keith and Lance entered the ballroom and headed to their spot at the side of the stairs. Colleen smiled and rubbed Sofia’s back as she sensed the girl was nervous. “And her Royal Highness, Princess Sofia,” the crowd clapped as Sofia walked down the stairs towards the crowd. She held up her dress so she wouldn’t trip, the heels were hard enough.

“Oh, yeah. Mom's right. I can do this,” Sofia mumbled to herself, making sure to keep the smile on her face. Slav was still trapped in her belt and struggled to free himself. The trio from earlier caught each other's attention and smiled seeing the princess walking down the stairs. The crowd still clapped as Sofia got off the stairs and curtsied to a girl who curtsied before her. A boy approached her and bowed before her.

The boy had tanned skin, brown hair tied in a ponytail, and green eyes. He was dressed in black pants, a dark grey blouse, dark green jacket with dark grey lace at the end of the sleeves and brown knee length boots.

”Um, hi. Would you like to dance?” the boy asked nervously and held a hand out before him. Sofia turned to her parents who seemed to be urging her on.

“Go on,” Keith mouthed with a smile. Sofia turned back to the boy with a smile and took his hand gently.

“Sure. Okay,” the boy walked them to the middle of the dance floor and they took positions of a waltz. Keith turned to the musician and nodded, the musician bowed and began playing a song.

Sofia and the boy began to dance, the crowd watching with smiles as they did. Sofia looked down to her shoes as they danced, she never really paid attention to her dance lessons. So she was quite nervous about dancing in front of the huge crowd. Sofia looked up into the boys' eyes and soon became lost in the dance, she was dancing without even thinking about it. And she knew what she was doing.

Slav felt himself grow dizzy from the spinning and as the dance slowly began to end, grabbed one of the ends of the bow to untie himself. But before he could, the boy's hand covered him as his hand wrapped around Sofia’s waist. Sofia smiled as the dance stopped, the boy shared a similar smile. Though that smile, turned into a pained look as Slav pinched his finger.

Sofia bit her lip as the boy pulled his hand away to reveal Slav attached to his finger. Sofia’s eyes widened the boy started panicking and waving his hand to get Slav off. Keith and Lance looked on in shock, neither expected to see Slav. The boy tossed his hand up and Slav was tossed off his finger and into the air. The boy ended up crashing into the punch table while Slav went flying into the cake that the chef had been rolling out.

Cake exploded and Sofia found herself and her dress covered in the cake as a result. Colleen ran forward the help the chef up, who had fallen down from the impact and cake explosion. Sofia bent down in front of the cart as Slav undug himself from the cake.

“That's it. I'm booking myself on a cruise,” Slav said as he blew out the candle on his head.

“I'm so sorry,” Sofia said to Slav. The boy stood up and turned to Sofia.

“Well, I should say!” he said, only as he turned he realized that she wasn’t talking to him.

“Are you okay, Slav?” Sofia asked, it was then the boy realized that the rumors about the princess were true.

“So,” he said as he glared at the princess.

“Who is she talking to?” the girl Sofia bumped into earlier asked getting everyone’s attention. The boy beside her laughed.

“She's talking to a crab!” he exclaimed. It was that comment that got the crowd laughing at the princess. Sofia stood up and watched the crowd in horror as they continued to laugh at her.

Sofia broke. She couldn’t take the laughing anymore. She picked her dress up and ran up the stairs. Keith stepped forwards to try and gather his daughter in his arms, though she ran past. Keith caught sight of the tears running down her face and felt his heart break.

“Sofie!” he called out over the laughing crowd Though his cry fell over deaf ears as Sofia ran to her room.


	3. The Secret's Out

 

As soon she reached her room, Sofia shed off her dress and flung it on the back of her vanity chair. She tossed off her heels and tossed them in the same direction as her dress. Her crown was pulled off her head and tossed off her crown and the white bow in her hair and they landed on her vanity. She collapsed onto her bed crying. She hadn’t bothered to turn her lights up, so it was rather dark in her room.

Sofia lifted her head and the golden seashell was in her view. She reached over and picked the shell up by the rope it had. The tears continued to fall as she flipped over, her back against her pillows, the seashell in her hands.

Her door opened and in walked Keith, a saddened look came on his face when he saw his daughter crying.

“Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry,” Keith said as he sat on the bed beside her.

“What's wrong with me?” Sofia whimpered out, Keith smiled softly as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Oh, nothing's wrong with you,” Sofia gave her mother a look.

“Mom, I'm the princess of disaster,” she cried and buried her face into her pillow.

Keith sighed and started running his fingers through her hair, he grabbed her signature purple bow from her dresser and tied it into her hair.

“Being a teenager i-is hard, and, uh all kids your age feel a-awkward,” Keith wasn’t sure where he was going with this. Lance was better at this kind of stuff, however, his husband was busy dismissing the guests from the party. During her mother’s speech, Sofia had started to wipe the ocean grime away from the shell. What she found underneath surprised her.

“Sofia?” she read. Her name was engraved on the front side of the shell. “What is this? My name's on here,” as she opened it, Keith gasped as he got a view of what she had as she sat up. It was the locket his father had made for Sofia as a gift 12 years ago.

“That song. Where have I heard it?” Sofia questioned as she watched merfolk swim around the underwater palace in Altea. “It's Altea. With merpeople and everything,” Sofia turned to Keith who had a shocked look on his face. He hadn’t expected his daughter to have the locket, he had given it to his father when they decided to keep Sofia away from the sea. Why would she have it? “Mother, you always said it was just an old fish tale.”

“Where did you get this?” Keith asked as he grabbed the locket and closed it. 

I... I found it,” Sofia said with slight hesitation knowing how her mother would react.

“You went over the wall, didn't you?” Keith said demanding an answer from his daughter.

“Actually, I went under it,” Sofia said answering Keith’s question with a different answer. “I hate that stupid wall,” she said letting her feelings out.

“Sofie, you know you're not allowed in the sea,” Keith gasped out as he repeated the rule he had set for her.

“But why? And why does that necklace have my name on it?” Sofia asked as she stood up on her bed facing her mother.

“Sofie listen to me,” Keith said trying to get his daughter to understand.

“You're hiding something from me,” Sofia said as she realized why Keith was avoiding the question.

“Y-You deliberately disobeyed me! I never want you going out there again! Do you hear me? It's dangerous in the sea!” Sofia glared at her mother.

“How would you know? You've never even been in it!” Sofia yelled as new tears sprang to her eyes. Crying, Sofia grabbed the locket from her mother’s hand and ran out of her room, just as her father opened the door and walked in.

“S-Sofie, l…” before he could finish, Sofia had already ran down the hall. “Oh, no,” Keith groaned as he sat on the edge of the bed. Lance walked over as Keith buried his face in his hands, he wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Keith, darling,” Lance started to say, Keith lifted his head and turned to his husband. “We knew this day would come,” he pointed out, Keith nodded with a sigh.

“You're right. It's time I trusted her with the truth.”

* * *

 

Sofia where are you going?” Slav asked as he watched her stomp past the rock we was on. However, the crab was ignored as Sofia started to push the wooden boat off the sand and towards the ocean “Young lady, just where do you think you're going?” Slav demanded as the boat slid into the water.

“I've gotta figure this out,” Sofia called as she climbed into the boat and sat down at the oars. She grabbed the locket in her hands, which was now around her neck and stared at the engraved name, which was hers, on the shell. “This necklace means something,” Sofia stated as Slav jumped on the edge of the boat, hanging on by just his claws. “And if no one's gonna tell me...I'm gonna find out myself,” Sofia grabbed one of the oars and hit Slav with it. The crab went flying off the boat and into the water.

Slav popped out of the water and watched as Sofia started rowing away.

“Sofia, please! You're making a big mistake!” Slav called out, but his pleas were not heard by the princess.

Meanwhile, Cyrenna was watching the scene from her frozen lair. She laughed as her plan was starting to come together.

“Oh, this is delicious. This is divine!” Myzak turned to the two manta rays.

“Let's go, flatsos,” the rays followed Myzak out of the lair and towards where Sofia was.   


“Hurry, Myzak!” Cyrenna called out to the shark “There's a little girl out there who needs our help.”

* * *

 

“All right, Slav you must remain calm,” Slav told himself as he swam through the gates of the wall. “This is not your fault,” he said as he climbed out of the pond and towards the palace stairs. “All you have to do is go in there and calmly explain that Sofia has run away,” he finally reached the top of the stairs “no reason to lose your head.” What Slav didn’t know was that Keith and Lance were looking for Sofia. As was the whole palace after the argument.

“Whatever you do you absitively, positutely must not panic,” Slav had found himself calm but still anxious.

“Sofie!” Keith called out and Slav jumped around and started running towards them.

“Sofia's gone! Sofia's gone! Sofia's gone!” Slav called out grabbing the couple’s attention.

“Slav?” Keith asked in surprise, he hadn’t expected Slav to be here. He would have thought that Slav would be in Altea with his father. “Well, what are you doing here?” Keith asked as Slav stopped at his pant leg.

“All my fault! I tried to stop her! I don't deserve to live!” Slav cried as he buried his face in Keith’s pant leg.

“Gone? Gone where?” Lance asked as he replayed what Slav had called out in his head.

“Out. Out to the sea” Slav cried out and buried his face once more.

“What do you mean? Where could she be going?” Keith asked as Slav slowly stopped crying.

“To Cyrenna’s,” Myzak said with a smile as Sofia asked where she would be going.

“And she can tell me what this locket means, why it has my name on it?” Sofia asked, excitement growing inside her.

“Oh, sure, kid,” Myzak said with a chuckle, the plan was working. “Cyrenna’s the best. She'll help ya,” Sofia stared at her locket for a moment before deciding.

“Okay. Then let's go,” the manta rays tails wrapped around the ropes in front of the boat and started pulling the boat in the direction of the frozen lair. The creatures laughed as Sofia glanced back to where the kingdom was. A thought in the back of her mind told her to turn around and go back to her parents.

She glanced down to the locket and sighed. She wanted to go home, but she just had to know more about the locket. She knew her mother and father wouldn’t tell her. Cyrenna was her best option.

* * *

 

Sofia awoke hours later. She wondered when and how she fell asleep. She sat up and wrapped the purple blanket around her tighter. The air was cold, like being in the Arctic. Fog surrounded them and pieces of ice were sticking up out of the water, which was bound to be freezing.

The rays pulled the boat into an ice cave. It was freezing. The only time Sofia had experienced cold weather was during the winter, but even then, it was never this cold. However, as they continued to venture further, the temperature became warmer and more comfortable for him.

“Angel face, meet the one and only...Cyrenna,” Myzak said as a giant shell turned around. Cyrenna seated on it. A smile grew on her face as she welcomed the princess.

“Oh, welcome, my precious,” she called as Sofia started getting out of the boat. “Oh, don't be shy. Come in. Come in out of the cold,” she said helping the princess of the boat and leading her to sit on the shell beside her. “Sit, sit. Put your feet up,” Cyrenna slid a block of ice under Sofia’s feet.

“Hungry? Afraid all I have is a cold plate,” Cyrenna pulled out a plate with odd seafood on it. Sofia cringed back as one of the food concoctions started to move. “Smelt-cicle? Kelp chip? Hush guppy?” however, she remembered her manners and shook her head.

“Uh, no, thank you” Cyrenna smiled and put the plate away. “I was hoping you could tell me about this pendant,” Sofia said as she pulled the locket off from around her neck. “Why it has my name on it,” she continued, holding the locket in her hand. “My mother wouldn't tell me. He just doesn't understand,” Sofia said with a frown, Cyrenna placed a tentacle around her shoulders and pat Sofia’s head gently.

“Oh, you're not the only one with a mother who doesn't understand you,” she said remembering her own mother. “Believe me, I know just how you feel,” Sofia sighed, not quite believing the woman’s words. “Dear child,” Cyrenna began to say as she took the locket gently from Sofia’s hands. “Did you ever consider that it has your name on it because it has your destiny in it?” Cyrenna then clicked the locket open, Sofia looked up as the image of the palace and merfolk appeared.

“Oh, deep down you know you weren't meant to be a lowly human,” Cyrenna said as Sofia watched the merfolk swim. “What you are is something...far more enchanting” Sofia’s eyes widened.

“A mermaid?” she felt excitement flow through her. But then reality crashed down on her. “But it's not possible,” Cyrenna chuckled.

“Darling, anything's possible.”

“You can turn me into a mermaid?” Sofia asked, practically bouncing in her seat.

“Piece of fish cake, honey,” Cyrenna replied closing the locket and handing it back to Sofia.

“Lots of luck,” Myzak grumbled as Cyrenna rummaged through her cupboards and humming to herself.

“Ah!” Cyrenna said and she pulled out a glowing purple bottle. On the front side under the dust layer, was a rare picture of Haggar smiling.

“Haggar's magic?” Myzak growled and glared at Cyrenna “Where'd you get that?”.

“I've been saving it for a special occasion,” Cyrenna snapped at the shark and headed back over to Sofia. “One drop of this and, bada-bing, bada-boom! You're in fin city! Whee!” Cyrenna cried out as she pulled the cap off the bottle.

“Really?” Sofia asked in excitement, Cyrenna nodded and gently lifted Sofia’s foot.

“Come, my darling. Your destiny awaits you” the potion was poured out of the bottle and landed on Sofia’s foot in a snowflake form.

Suddenly Sofia was lifted into the air. Green magic swirled around her legs in a tornado. Sofia felt her legs becoming one, it was an odd sensation. Cyrenna laughed as Sofia slowly was lowered to the ground as the tornado faded away. Once the magic faded, a light indigo coloured tail with light purple fins was revealed where Sofia’s legs used to be. Her top had changed into a matching indigo top.

“I don't believe it! I'm a mermaid” Sofia said in amazement, she grabbed her fins and smiled seeing they were real.

“Say it loud, say it proud!” Cyrenna cried out with a laugh as Sofia dove into the water. She expected it to be freezing cold, however, she found the water wasn’t cold at all. She swam around an unamused Myzak before diving under the water. Sofia then jumped out of the water with a huge smile on her face.

“I'm a mermaid!” she yelled and splashed back into the water. Cyrenna smiled seeing the princess so happy. Her plan was working.

“You had this all along,” Myzak yelled eyeing the now empty potion bottle. “You coulda changed me back. Why I oughta--” Cyrenna rolled her eyes as she slipped into the water.

“Keep your scales on, small fry. I'm still reeling her in”.

* * *

 

Outside the walls on a ship, Keith and Lance were talking to Shiro about the situation. Keith was dressed in black pants, a teal shirt, a grey vest with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and brown boots. Lance stood beside him dressed in black pants, a white blouse, and brown knee length boots.

“Oh, Dad, I'm so worried,” Keith said, Lance shared his worry as well.

“Everything's going to be all right Keith,” Shiro said trying to calm his worried son down. Even though he to was worried for his granddaughters' sake. “We have search parties scouring the ocean. I'm going to join them now myself,” despite his father’s words, Keith still couldn’t help but worry.

“Keith, maybe you should go with him,” Lance said tuning Keith to face him, his hands on his shoulders.

“But Lance--” Keith started to protest with a shake of his head.

“I need to stay here and lead the search on land,” Lance said explaining his reason. “But you know these waters… and you know our daughter. You have to go,” Keith gave Lance a soft smile.

“It may be dangerous,” Shiro said, trying to reason against his son coming with.

“Lance’s right, Dad, I should have known I couldn't keep Sofie from the sea. It's a part of her,” Keith said trying to get his father to see reason. “And a part of me. I have to go,” Keith was giving Shiro that look he always gave when reasoning with him. Shiro sighed and nodded.

“Very well,” he said as he trident started to glow. Keith turned back to Lance.

“Bring her home,” Lance said as the two embraced.

Lance helped Keith stand on the edge of the ship. Keith took a deep breath and nodded at his father, closing his eyes and holding his arms out. Shiro pointed his trident at Keith and hit him with the magic. Keith raised into the air and slowly his clothes disappear and his legs took the form of his red tail.

Lance watched on in amazement, Keith opened his eyes and once the transformation was done, dove into the water.

* * *

 

“What a totally cool feeling!” Sofia exclaimed as she dove back into the water. She giggled as she popped out of the water and drifted on her back. She eventually hit a circle of ice and a seal turned its head in surprise. “Oh, excuse me. I'm so sorry, ma'am,” Sofia said as she saw three white seal pups poke their heads out.

(A/N:

_ Word _ =Sofia

**_Word_ ** =Keith)

“ _ Okay _

_ Get a grip _

_ Get the hang of this flipper _

_ It's like slipping two feet into one big huge slipper _ ”

Upon seeing Sofia flap her fins as she tried to get the hang of things, one of the seal pups also flapped their fins. Of course, being newborns, they weren’t sure of their fins like their mother was.

“ _ This way is left _

_ Which way is right _

_ Well, now I'll be circling in circles all night _

_ Oh, so this is forward. _

_ No problem _ ”

Sofia swam around a smaller ice circle that the pups had jumped on. The pups got dizzy watching her swim in circles and eventually fell down dizzy. Sofia giggled and dove under the water.

“ _ I can't believe I can do this and more _

_ To swim in the sea like I walk on the shore _

_ Out of my shell _

_ Not closed up like a clam _

_ Look out sea _

_ This is me _

_ Here I am _ ”

Sofia jumped with two narwhals through large hoops of ice. She then dove down and then danced with a sea turtle. A huge smile on her face.

“ _ For a moment all of me _

_ Is alive and at home in the sea _

_ I'm swirling and twirling, so graceful and grand _

_ Not stubbing my toes getting stuck in the sand _

_ For a moment life is cool _

_ I'm a splash in the world's biggest pool _

_ This is more than my thoughts ever thought it could be _

_ For a moment, just a moment, lucky me _ ”

Sofia smiled as she swam through a tornado of different fish.

Meanwhile, Shiro and Keith had split up to search. Keith headed to his grotto first. Shiro hd told him that he had rebuilt the grotto and replaced all the treasures inside after he had destroyed them. Eventually, he ended up at the same sunken ship he, Hunk, and Pidge escaped the shark at.

“ **_If only for one moment_ **

**_I had shared with you all I know_ **

**_The sea wouldn't be a mystery_ **

**_Oh, why did you have to go?_ ** ”

Sofia smiled as the pups jumped off the ice and landed in the water.

“ _ Everything's newer, brighter and bluer _

_ And truer to life than before _

_ Watch me soar _

_ For a moment I can shine _

_ Got a grin and a fin, it works fine _

_ My fingers are wrinkly, I really don't care _

_ If all of my curls are curled out of my hair _ ”

Sofia landed on the back of a humpback whale and laid on her back.

“ _ For a moment I can feel _

_ All the dreams I've been dreaming are real _ ”

The whale took to the surface and Sofia sat up as she grasped at her locket, a smile on her face.

“ _ Wish my mother could hear it _

_ The sea is my song _

_ For a moment _

_ Just a moment _

_ I belong _ ”

Keith swam to the rock where Slav had sung to him to keep him under the sea. He plucked a flower off the rock and smiled, remembering when he plucked petals off a similar flower to see if Lance loved him or not. He pulled it close to him, his heart hurting as he still had found no such luck at finding his daughter.

“ **_I will find you, my darling_ **

**_And the moment that I do_ **

**_I'll hold you close, my Sofia_ **

**_And sing the song of the sea with you_ **

**_Sing the song of the sea with you_ **

_ For a moment, just a moment, I belong _ ”

* * *

 

Sofia swam back to Cyrenna’s underwater lair and upon setting her and Myzak speaking quietly, she swam up and hugged the woman around her waist.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!” Sofia squealed out, Cyrenna was silent for a moment before Sofia felt her shake in her arms. “What's the matter?” Sofia asked as she let go.

“Oh, I knew this would happen,” Cyrenna said with a sniffle “one taste, and you're hooked.” Myzak grabbed a handkerchief as he rubbed his “tears” away. “Oh, Myzak, I'm such a failure, such a--” Cyrenna blew her nose in the handkerchief Myzak gave her before she could finish her sentence.

“Oh, my precious...there wasn't enough potion for this to be a forever spell,” Cyrenna said with a frown. Sofia’s eyes widened.

“Please,” she pleaded. “I don't want to go back to being an ordinary girl,” Cyrenna gave a sympathetic smile. “Isn't there some way I can stay a mermaid?” Sofia asked desperately as Cyrenna laid over a table.

“Oh, I'm afraid there's absolutely no possible way,” Cyrenna cried out burying her face in her arms. “Well, there is one way,” Cyrenna said lifting her head up. Sofia started to get excited, she didn’t want to go back to being the weird human girl. “No. What am I thinking? It's far too dangerous,” Cyrenna said again, selling the maybe option to Sofia.

“What? Wh... What's too dangerous?” Sofia asked desperately.

“Well...” Cyrena said as she turned around and sat on the table “I could make the spell last longer...if I had my magic trident,” Cyrenna said using her ink to create an image of Shiro’s trident. “Oh, but it was stolen years ago by a deranged kleptomaniac,” Cyrenna cried using her ink to create an image of Shiro around Myzak. “And there's no one to get it back for me,” Cyrenna cried into her hands, the ink now disappearing.

“Maybe I could get it back for you,” Sofia said, she was desperate to stay a mermaid. Cyrenna’s trident was her best option at the moment.

“You would do that for me?” Cyrenna asked in ‘shock’, Sofia nodded in response.

“If I did, would you make me a mermaid forever?” Sofia asked, she grabbed Cyrenna’s hand in desperation.

“Even longer, if you like,” Cyrenna said with a smile. She then pulled out a map made of ice and handed it to the princess. “Now, here is where the scoundrel lives,” Cyrenna said pointing to where the x was. Sofia’s eyes widened at what the map said.

“Altea? You mean it's not just an old fish tale? It really exists?” Sofia asked in surprise.

“Of course it exists, dear. Whoever told you otherwise?” Cyrenna asked placing a hand on the princess’s shoulder.

“My parents,” Sofia replied with a frown. Gears began to click in her head. Her parents had been lying to her this whole time.

“Well, I'm sure they didn't mean to be cruel and deceitful,” Cyrenna said with a soothing tone.

“Okay, I'll bring back your trident. You can count on me!” Sofia called as she exited the lair, ice map in hand.

“Be careful, dear. Enjoy those fins!” Cyrenna called out with a smile. “While you can,” she muttered to Myzak with a deep laugh.

Her plan was working.


	4. On To Altea

“Hmm, let's see,” Sofia said as she studied the map. She lay on the back of a humpback whale, who had been more than happy to give her a ride. “South to Two Circles Pass...then, uh, north to...no, no, um, east...to, uh, hmm…” she really should have paid more attention to her father’s lessons.

The whale she was riding on passed over a bed of seaweed. The seaweed tickled the whale’s underside and caused the whale to sneeze, which sent Sofia flying off as she had been laying on blowhole of the whale. She landed on a chuck on flat ice and the map broke in front of her.

“My map. It's ruined,” Sofia said picking up the pieces sadly. “Now how am I gonna find my way to Altea?” she asked sadly.

“Help! Someone, please!” Sofia turned and saw a female penguin holding onto something over the cliff’s edge. “Help! Oh! Oh, hold on, sweetie! We'll save you!” the penguin yelled again. Down below a baby penguin was stuck on a floating circle of ice, a shark circling around.

“Help! Mama! Hurry!” the baby penguin yelled again in fear of the shark.

“I can't reach her!” another penguin yelled. A group of penguin had created a chain ladder by holding onto each other's ankles to try and reach the penguin. However, they couldn’t reach her.

“Oh! Oh! Somebody help us!” the mother penguin yelled again in desperation.

Splashing directed Sofia’s attention over the peak of an ice and was met with the sight of two sea creatures. A purple penguin with black feet and a golden beak. With him was a purple walrus with black spots.

“Mightier than a hurricane!” the penguin announced as he landed on a circle of ice, the walrus landing on the same circle and ended up launching the penguin. “Braver than a killer whale!” the penguin said before being launched up and grabbing onto an icicle.

The icicle broke off and the penguin crashed through the thin ice, creating a hole in the ice. The seal looked on in concern, a smile appeared on his face as the penguin popped up again, broken icicle in his fins.

“Faster than a moray eel!” the penguin announced as he climbed out of the hole. “It's the fearless adventurers…” the penguin started to say.

“Slash-explorers...” the seal added. The two bounded over to the penguins, who were still trying to get the baby penguin.

“Titanic Sal and his trusty sidekick Janka!” the penguin, now known as Sal announced.

“Oh, no,” one of the penguins groaned.

“Not them,” another one groaned. It was clear to Sofia that the two were not very well liked around here. Sal climbed on top of Janka and the walrus started to climb down the chain of penguins.

“This is it, Janka. Redemption,” Sal announced with a smile on his face.

“No, not the walrus,” a penguin moaned Janks continued to climb down, adding to the weight.

“Excuse me,” Janka said as he climbed down the line.

“Ow!” one of the penguins cried out as Janka stepped on his face.

“Oh is that your face?” Janka asked softly.

Finally, the two reached the end of the chain, the penguins struggling to keep hold of each other. Janka and Sal were making the chain heavier, the mother penguin at the top struggled to hold on to the whole chain.

“We're finally gonna be heroes for real,” Sal replied with a smile as Janka grabbed his ankles and lowered him down to the baby penguin.

“Yeah. They're not gonna laugh at us anymore,” the walrus replied.

“This is too easy,” Sal said as Janka started to rock back and forth for Sal to try and grab the baby penguin. “And a-one, and a-two...and a shark…” Sal’s eyes widened when he caught sight of the shark circling around.

“Shark!” he and Janka cried out at the same time. The two started panicking and climbing up the chain. The baby penguin huffed and glared at the two.

“Goin' up! Goin' up! Goin' up! Goin' up!” Sal yelled as they climbed.

The mother became overwhelmed with the jumping of the climbing, plus the weight. She ended up letting go of the penguins and falling on her back.

“Goin' down,” Janka said as the chain ladder of penguins fell down and landed on the same circle he baby penguin was on. Janks fell on top of the penguins and the weight on one side, ended up launching the baby penguin and landing into her mother’s arms.

With the weight of Janka, the ice started to tilt down on the side the group was on. Janka and Sal poke their head down into the water and screamed when they saw the shark swimming towards them. They jumped back and landed on the upper side of the ice. The action caused all the penguins to land in Janka’s arms, just as the shark jumped out the water and onto the ice. The action caused the group to launch up to the cliff and become half buried in the underside. 

“Well, that wasn't so bad,” Sal said, though his voice was muffled. Suddenly, the cliff because of the added weight, cracked and came crashing down. The cliff crashed into the water and ended up landing on the shark. The baby penguin poked her head out the snow and spotted her mother right away.

“Mama!” she exclaimed, her mother then hugged her as the other penguins, plus Sal and Janka, popped out of the snow.

“Another plan perfectly executed,” Sal said with a smile towards Janka.

“What did you think you were doing?” the two cringed as the mother penguin yelled at them.

“We were just trying to be heroes,” Janka replied shyly and avoiding her glares.

“You call abandoning my baby heroic?” the mother snapped with a glare. “You two boys almost got us all killed” she exclaimed as the other penguins nodded in agreement.

“Oh, yeah, some fearless heroes,” one of the penguins exclaimed as Sal and Janka lowered their heads.

“More like zeroes!” another replied, the group started laughing at the two as they walked away sadly.

“Go ahead. Laugh your stinkin' tuxedos off. We'll show you... someday,” Sal said as the laughter faded as they walked to the water’s edge. Sal kicked a rock into the water and not even a few seconds later Sofia popped out of the water.

“Excuse me,” Sofia said startling the two. Sal jumped back and landed in Janka’s arms, the walrus curling into a ball. Sofia gave a soft smile towards the two.

“You don't have to be scared of me. I won't hurt you,” she said with a wave of her hand. Sal crawled out from Jank’s arms and glared at the princess.

“Scared? Who said anything about bein' scared? Don't you know an evasive maneuver when you see one?” Sofia giggled.

“Hi, I’m Sofia, but you can call me Sofie,” Sofia said with a smile.

“This here’s Sal, and I’m Janka,” Janka said bounding over to the princess. Sal jumped off and glared at the walrus.

“Excuse me, Mr. I-Spill-My-Guts-To-Total-Strangers,” Sal said grabbing the walruses cheeks and turned his attention to the angry penguin. “You just blew our cover!” Sal yelled angrily.

“I was just trying to be friendly,” Janka protested softly.

“Uh, guys, I really need to get going so if you could just tell me--” Sofia said as she started to slowly back away from the two. 

“See? Now she's gonna leave, and it's all your fault” Janka said with a frown. Sal’s eyes widened.

“My fault? She's-She's-She's…” Sal said as he tried to come up with a reason.

“Guys?” Sofia said trying to get their attention. The two continued to argue, however.

“She's probably allergic to blubber,” Sal had finally come up with a reason, he poked Janka’s purple skin with a proud smile.

“Oh, yeah?” Jamka asked pressing their noses together. “Well, maybe she doesn't like birds that can't fly!” Sal gasped and his eyes went wide.

“Guys” Sofia called out once again, they ignored her, however.

“Well, you can't fly either,” Sal pointed out with a smile.

“And you walk funny,” Janka said again, he continued to press an argument that didn’t need to be pressed. Sofia sighed and laid her head down on the ice.

“Oh, yeah? Well…” Sal started to say, there was a moment of silence before Sal came up with a reason. Though he ended up repeating the same reason as he did earlier. “You can't fly either!” the two glared daggers at each other.

“Guys!” Sofia yelled louder this time. The two turned to her and blinked a few times.

“Do either of you know how to get to Altea? I don't have much time,” she said, this grabbed the attention of the pair.

“Why do you want to go to Altea?” Janka asked softly.

“I have to get something that was stolen from a friend,” Sofia explained as she backed away from the edge. “If I don't, I'll turn back into…” as Sofia explained, she pulled her tail out of the water and stared at it sadly.

“A what? Turn back into a what?” Janka asked in curiosity.

“A human” Sofia said softly and closed her eyes. Sal and Janka gasped before Sal calmed down and glared at the mermaid.

“I knew there was something un-fishy about you,” Sal said as Sofia lowered her tail back into the water. “Tough break, sister. Drop us a line. Let us know how it all turns out,” before Sal could walk past Janka, the walrus placed a paw on his head and turned the penguin around.

“We'll take you,” Janka said with a smile. Sofia’s eyes widened.

“You will?” she asked in excitement.

“We will?” Sal asked his friend in annoyance.

“She's a damsel in distress. It's our big chance,” Janka said through his teeth as he lifted his paw off the others head.

Sal turned to Sofia who had wide excited eyes, her hands placed together with her fingers crossed. On top of that, she was biting her lower lip, trying to hide her smile. Sla sighed.

“Hoo-boy. I can't believe I'm doin' this. Somebody stop me,” he said as he walked to the edge of the ice. “All right, then, we're in,” Janka smiled and jumped in the water “on to Altea!” Sal yelled and they all dove down into the water.

“ _ Taming the tides _

_ Swarming the seas _

_ Beware barracudas _

_ Drop to your knees _ ”

Sal started doing kung fu poses in front of a confused fish, the fishes eyes widened as he spotted something behind the penguin. Sal turned and swam off as he came face to face with a barracuda.

“ _ Defending our friends and anemones _

_ As big as a whale  _ “

Sal sang as he poked at Janka’s stomach.

“ _ Hey! _ ” Janka protested.

“ _ But with a much smaller tail _ ” Sofia said as she pointed as Janka’s tail.

“ _ Facing the foe with our fearless flukes _

_ Daring the dastards to put up their dukes _

_ Great globs of gore _

_ We'll storm the shore _

_ And seek the unknown _ ”

The trio’s eyes widened as the volcano that sat on the island they were on started to erupt.

“ _ Then can we go home? _ ” Janka asked as the island exploded and caused a tidal wave, the trio body-surfed the wave while Sal and Janka sang, smiles on their faces.

“ _ Titanic Janka and Daring Sal _

_ Adventurers slash explorers _

_ Titanic Janka and Daring Sal _

_ Adventurers slash explorers _

_ Our gallant quest to do our best _

_ And smile for our adorers _ ”

“ _ We'll save the day _ ” she sang with them, she couldn’t help but join in.

“ _ And make a splash _

_ Titanic Janka and Daring Sal _ ”

The wave folded over and the trio dove down to the seafloor. They landed on a sunken ship, Janka landing in the crows nest and Sal landing on the mast.

“ _ We'll clobber those crabs with their clammy claws _ ” Sal said as he grabbed a small sword and battled against a crab.

“ _ We'll sever those sharks with their savage jaws _ ” Janka said as he looked through a telescope. A small goldfish on the other side scared him and he fell back, the ship tilting backward as well.

“ _ The battle is fierce _ ” Sal said as he was still fighting the crabs. However, a chest took him away from the fight when it slid down the deck.

“ _ And mercifully brief _ ” Janka pointed out as he held onto the pole as the ship fell down. The chest Sal was holding onto burst open and gold exploded out of the chest.

“ _ The conquering heroes return as kings of the reef _ ”

Sofia sand with a smile as treasures were everywhere. Sal and Janka ended up sitting at a table, gold cloths around their necks as napkins. Crowns on their head as though they were kings. A golden tablecloth landed on the table along with other dining utensils.

_ We'll dine with the best, dressed with a flair _

_ Climb every mountain because it's there _ ”

Sal grabbed Sofia’s wrist and they swam through a coral reef which had formed a hoop. Janka however, had gotten stuck.

“ _ Come on, follow me, we'll make history _

_ To courage, to us _ ”

Sofia swam back behind Janka and pushed the walrus out of the hoop.

“ _ The trident _ ” Sofia pointed out as she reminded them of their mission.

“ _ Or bust! _ ” Janka yelled as he bumped into Sal and they continued up to the surface.

The three ended up at a rock with a ship wheel stuck in between two rocks. Sal and Janka climbed the rock as the trio sang together.

“ _ Titanic Janka and Daring Sal _

_ Adventurers slash explorers _

_ Titanic Janka and Daring Sal _

_ Adventurers slash explorers _ ”

“ _ We'll save the day _ ” Sal exclaimed with a determined look on his face.

“ _ And make a splash _ ” Janka said with a smile.

“ _ Sofia! _ ” Sofia said as she jumped into the water.

“ _ Sal! _ ” Sal said next, following Sofia down into the water.

“ _ And Daring Janka _ ” Janka said as he followed his friends into the water.

“ _ All for three and three for one _

_ Altea, here we come! _ ”

Eventually, the three reached their destination. The palace of Altea in clear sight.

“I knew it! It's real!” Sofia exclaimed with wide eyes “Altea,” she gasped out with a smile.

From her lair, Cyrenna watched her floating image of the princess with a smile.

“That's right, Princess, just a little further,” Cyrenna turned to her manta rays. “Cloak, Dagger!” she said as the manta rays swam up. “Go make sure that no one interferes with her return, hmm?” by the tone of her voice, the manta rays knew she meant business.

The two nodded and swam out of the lair and towards Altea.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the palace grounds, Shiro and Slav had met up with Keith.

“Have you heard anything Dad, but I'd--” Keith turned his head and found a familiar face. “Hunk!” he exclaimed and ran up to the small orange and yellow fish. The fish go scared by his presence and swam off behind a rock. Keith caught a glimpse as the fish turned into a small merchild.

“Now what?” an annoyed voice called out as it swam out from behind the rock. The voice ended up being Hunk’s.

“Sorry about that,” Keith said with a small smile. Hunk’s eyes widened.

“Keith?” Hunk said with a smile.

“Hunk?” Keith said as he finally recognized the figure in front of him.  Hunk swam forwards and knocked Keith to the ground in a hug. Hunk ended up turning into his fish form, which was now bigger than before.

“Oh, I've missed you!” Hunk exclaimed as Keith stood himself back up. Keith smiled seeing Hunk had grown up the past 12 years.

“Boy, you're sure not a guppy anymore,” Keith said as he pulled gently on Hunk’s fish fins. Hunk laughed and nodded.

“You can say that again,” Hunk said as he changed back into his merman form.

“Over here! Throw it to me!” the merchildren exclaimed as they were tossing a shell back and forth to each other. One child ended up being bonked on the head by the shell while the others laughed.

“Children, what did I say about playing "kick the clam" on the head?” a female voice called out as she appeared from behind the rock.

“Sorry Mom,” the kids called out at once.

“Shay?” Keith asked with a smile. Shay swam forward with a smile and grabbed her younger brother in a hug.

“It’s good to see you again Keith,” she said with a smile.

“And you as well, how have you been?” Shay released her brother from the hug and gestured to the group of merchildren.

“Busy,” Keith smiled as he put two and two together.

“You were back and you didn’t tell me?” another female voice called out. Keith turned and found the voice was Pidge’s, and beside her was Matt.

“Relax Pidge, he’s got a lot on his mind,” Matt said with a knowing smile.

“We’re sorry about Sofie,” Pidge said with a kind smile.

“Guys, I really need your help,” Keith said with pleading eyes.

“Wild seahorses couldn't stop me,” Hunk said with a determined smile.

“Well I’m not sure about wild seahorses,” Pidge started to say.

“We’ll help you look for Sofie,” Matt finished, the siblings sharing a determined smile. Hunk turned to Shay who had a smile on her face.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said as he kissed her cheek gently.

“Take all the time you need,” Shay responded with a smile. Hunk followed the group as they swam back to the palace, while the kids followed Shay back to their home.

If the group had waited a few seconds, they would have seen Sofia with Sal and Janka. As they continued to the palace, Sofia couldn’t help  but glance around in awe. “It's so beautiful” she gasped out as she flipped on her back to glance up. Sofia ended up bumping into someone and jumped back in surprise.

“Whoa!” the two exclaimed at the same time as the one she bumped into turned around.

“Sorry, my…” Sofia started to say softly, the mermaid she bumped into spoke at the same time.

“Sorry, my fault,” she said with a smile. The mermaid had dark skin, black hair that was tied into a three section ponytail, and brown eyes. Her tail was green with lighter green fins, her top was green with seaweed crisscrossed in front and tied in the back. In her hair was a lime green flower.

“Fault,” Sofia finished softly as she felt her cheeks grow red, not just out of embarrassment.

“Hi,” the girl spoke with a smile. Sofia closed her mouth, her mouth had gone dry, it was as if she was missing her tongue. “I don't think I've seen you around here. What's your name?” the girl asked.

“I’m, Sof...Sof...” Sofia said with a slight stutter. The girl waited patiently for her to finish her name. Sofia swallowed and spoke quietly “Sofie.”

The girl smiled as two other merfolk swam up. One had pale skin, orange hair with a white headband, and teal eyes. Her tail was yellow with orange fins and her top was a matching yellow. The other was a boy who had pale skin, red hair, and light blue eyes. His tail was dark teal with light teal fins

“Hey guys, meet Sofie,” the girl said with a smile. The two merfolk smiled and gave small waves.

“Hi,” the orange-haired girl said.

“Hey, you wanna hang out with us?” the boy asked. Sofia nodded eagerly, but before she could say yes, Sal swam up beside her.

“All right, all right. Break it up. Break it up!” Sal said annoyed. The group backed away in surprise as Sal shooed them away “There's nothing to see here. Move along,” Sal turned to Sofia and grabbed her wrist. “Come on, Miss Popularity. We have a previous engagement. Remember?” Sal said as he dragged Sofia past the group and towards the palace. Sofia turned her head and found the group waving to her.

“Maybe I'll catch you later!” the girl called out. Sofia smiled and nodded with a wave of her hand.

“This is what happens when you bring a country fish to the big city,” Sal said as they met up with Janka and continued on.

“Was that a penguin?” the girl asked with a confused look on her face. Her friends laughed and the trio swam away.

* * *

The trio swam into the palace and towards the huge throne room.

“Wow!” the trio whispered with wide eyes.

“Nice crib,” Janka commented as they swam behind a pillar to avoid being detected by some servants who were setting a table.

“Come on. Follow me,” Sofia whispered as she swam underneath the table, hidden by the long tablecloth. The three poked their heads out from under the cloth to see a merman swim into the throne room.

“That must be him,” Sofia whispered to the pair as the merman sat down on the throne. “He looks sad,” she said as the merman pulled out a shell and stared at it sadly. “He doesn't look like a thief,” she added with a frown.

“They never do,” Sal whispered as they continued to watch the merman. Sofia diverted her attention and her eyes widened.

“Look! There it is!” she exclaimed, the other two followed her gaze to where the trident sat beside the throne.

“A fork?” Sal said in disbelief “we're risking our tails for a fork?” Shiro looked up to see servants preparing the room for what looked like a party.

“We haven't time for this!” Shiro exclaimed as he got off the throne. “I want every available merman searching!” Shiro swam towards the table and the trio quickly hid. “Find her!” Shiro yelled as he banged his fist on the table. “Find her!” he yelled again as he slapped the table away in anger.

Sal and Janka quickly swam back under the table as it landed back on its legs. Sofia swam up and hid behind a bush of underwater flowers. She peeked through as Shiro heard the table shaking from behind him.

“Janka, if-if this is the end,” Sal started to whisper. “I just want you to know, pal, I'm sorry I said that thing about the blubber,” Janka stopped shaking for a moment.

“Well, I'm sorry about the fish breath,” the walrus replied with a small smile.

“Yeah,” Sal said with a smile before he realized what Janka had said. “You didn't say anything about that,” Janka shook his head.

“But I was thinkin' it” the two went back to shaking, which continued to shake the table.

Shiro approached the table and was about to pull the tablecloth off when the fanfare went off and a messenger swam in.

“King Shiro, your son has returned,” he said with a bow. Shiro glanced back at the table before shaking his head and following the merman out of the throne room.

Sofia watched Shiro leave the throne room before swimming out of her hiding spot and towards the trident. Sal and Janka poked their heads out from under the table and glanced around to see if the coast was clear.

“Ooh, that was close,” Janka said as the two let out a sigh of relief. They turned their attention to Sofia. The princess stared at the trident, she wanted to help Cyrenna. However, there was that voice in the back of her mind that told her to leave the trident alone. “Oh, sure, that's it. Take your time,” Sal said as he laid on his back, Sofia turning towards him. “Let's all just linger here and die!” Sal yelled, his impatient attitude coming into effect. Sofia and Janka gave him surprised looks.

Janka turned his head towards the entrance when they heard the king’s voice once more. “I'm sure she'll turn up soon,” Shiro said softly.

“He's coming back!” Janka said as he turned to Sofia with a look of desperation.

Sofia turned to the trident and started to pull it out of the stand. The trident glowed as Sofia pulled before it finally came loose. However, as a result, Sofia’s necklace came off as well.

“My necklace!” Sofia gasped as she went down to retrieve it. However, before she could, Janka grabbed her and the trio swam out of the palace, trident in hand.

“Ah, don't worry, Keith,” Hunk started to say as he swam up beside his friend. “We’ll find her,” he encouraged, Pidge nodded in agreement as the group entered the throne room. Keith sighed and closed his eyes, he opened them and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Dad, the trident!” Keith called out grabbing everyone’s attention. Where the trident should be, it was not there. Slav swam up to the stand and perched himself on it.

“But that's not possible,” he said in awe and turned to the king. “Nobody can remove the trident from the stand except you, sire. You or one of your descendants,” Keith noticed something glittering on the ground and swam towards it.

Keith picked up the shining object and found it to be Sofia’s necklace.

“Sofie,” Slav groaned and buried his face in his claws.

“Who I was supposed to be watching,” the crab said. “Go ahead, crack me open. Make a crab cake out of me, sire,” Shiro sighed and shook his head before turning his attention to Keith.

“But how could she have gotten here?” Keith asked as he turned to his father.

“Cyrenna. If she gets her hands on my trident,” Shiro said as he the puzzle pieces together. He turned to one of the guards. “Double the search parties! I want every creature in the ocean on patrol!” Shiro exclaimed. The guards nodded.

“Yes sire!” they said as they exited the throne room.

Suddenly, shadows passed over the group(minus Shiro). They looked up and found two familiar white and black manta rays. They seemed to be in a hurry and following someone.

“Wait a minute,” Keith said as he ran through his memory. “I know those two,” Keith led the group after the rays out of the palace.

Slav in the meantime had been blabbering on about how he was supposed to have been keeping an eye on Sofia. He had failed to notice that everyone had left the throne room and he was the only one in there now. Slav sighed and swam off to find Shiro.


	5. Final Battle

 

“We did it!” Sal cheered as him and Janka jumped out of the water and did a handshake. Their happiness was cut short when they saw Sofia beside a rock, staring at a wall. Sofia turned as Sal and Janka swam up beside her.

“All this time...Altea was never that far away from home,” the two followed her gaze to the wall, the palace behind it.

“This is your home?” Janka asked in awe.

“It used to be,” she said as she caught gazes with the pair.

“Whoa! What a pad! Talk about your curb appeal. But, uh, what's with the wall? I know good fences make good neighbours, but isn't that a bit much?” Sal asked as he studied the wall.

“Yeah. What are you tryin' to keep out?” Janka asked Sofia who stared at the wall angrily.

“It wasn't built to keep something out,” Sofia said with a frown before the frown turned into a look of anger. “It was built to keep me in, come on. Let's go,” Sofia said leading the two away from the palace, the trident still in her hands.

Sal and Janka shared twin smiles before jumping in and out of the water, Sofia eventually giving into the fun and joining in. The trio started the journey back to Cyrenna’s lair to deliver the trident.

“You know, kid, the three of us, we make a pretty good team,” Sal commented as they headed towards the entrance of Cyrenna’s lair.

“Once you're a permanent mermaid, we'll be friends forever,” Janka said with a smile.

“We'll be inseparable!” Sal cried out as he sat on Janka’s back.

“Nothing will ever come between us,” Janka commented, the pair, however, failed to notice the shark fin separating them from Sofia.

“Shark!” Janka yelled as the fin scared them.

“Run! Run!” Sal yelled as they swam quickly out of the entrance of the lair.

“No, wait!” Sofia called out trying to get their attention “it's just…” Sofia trailed off as the pair were to far to hear her. Myzak laughed as he watched the pair swim away.

“Leavin' so soon, boys?” Myzak asked with a taunting tone of voice. “What can I say? When you got it, you got it. Hey! You got it!” Myzak exclaimed as Sofia pulled the trident out of the water. “Sweetheart, you're my new hero,” Myzak said as he jumped out the water and landed back in. He motioned with a small fin for Sofia to follow him.

“Let's go. It's time for some magic,” Myzak said as Sofia slowly started to follow before stopping.

“But…” Sofia started to say as she looked to the entrance “but my friends…” Myzak rolled his eyes.

“Ha! You mean you call those two yellow-bellied sea slugs your friends?” Myzak asked with a smile. “Come on! You wanna be a mermaid, or what?” Myzak asked with a taunting smile. Sofia stared at the trident before sighing and following the shark.

* * *

 

Back outside the lair, the rays entered through a different way. They had failed to notice Keith, Pidge, and Hunk behind them. The trio hid behind a chunk of ice and watched the rays enter the frozen lair.

“So there it is,” Keith said as he turned to Hunk and Pidge.

“Swim back as fast as you can and tell my father. I'll try to find Sofie,” Hunk groaned.

“Oh, but if that old sea witch is in there, and then there's that mean little shark…” Pidge sighed as Hunk continued to ramble on. “And then those manta rays come, a-and then she takes those-those creepy tentacles... so suction cups stick to your face, and, and…” Pidge took that moment to step in.

“I think what Hunk means to say is, no way you’re going in there alone,” Hunk nodded.

“But, guys, if we all go...who's going to tell Dad where Cyrenna's lair is?” Keith asked the pair who gave defeated looks. It was at this moment that Matt flew up and landed on the ice.

“Say, what's all the whispering about? Is Sofie around here? Did you find her yet? If she's…” before Matt could say any more, Keith snapped his beak shut and pulled his face down.

“Matt! Get down and be quiet,” Keith whispered.

“Wait a minute,” Keith said as an idea popped into his head. “Matt can get help,” Hunk gave Keith a look and rolled his eyes as Keith turned back to Matt. “Matt, I need you to pay very close attention,” Matt nodded and Hunk sighed.

“We’re doomed” he commented as he slapped his forehead.

* * *

 

“Oh, there you are, darling!” Cyrenna exclaimed as Sofia came into view. “Oh, I was so worried about you” Cyrenna stood up once she saw Sofia had the trident in her hands. “And look! You've brought back my trident. Clever girl,” she said with a smile.

“Give it to her! Give it to her! Give it to her!”Myzak repeated as he swam around Sofia. One of Cyrenna’s tentacles grabbed him and pinned him against the chair. “Hey!” Myzak said before the tentacle wrapped itself around his mouth.

“Forgive him, dear,” Cyrenna said with a smile before sending a glare over her shoulder. “He's got a little size issue,” Myzak sent the witch a glare back before Cyrenna turned back to the princess. “Now, if you'll just hand over the…” before Cyrenna could finish her sentence and grab the trident with one of her tentacles, someone swam into the room.

“Sofie don’t!” Keith yelled as he swam into the room, following by Hunk and Pidge.

“Mom!” Sofia cried out in surprise.

“Don't listen to her!” Keith continued to say and swam close to his daughter. Both froze and eyed each other up and down.

“You're a mermaid?” they asked surprised and in unison.

“Keith, how nice of you to come,” Cyrenna said with a smile as she swam behind the merprince. “And you brought Pidgeon and Hunky with you,” Pidge and Hunk glared at the witch.

“The name’s Hunk, and that’s Pidge,” Hunk said with a glare as he swam towards the witch. However, before he could, Myzak swam into his chest and pushed him back.

“Grrr,” Myzak growled with a glare.

“Grrr yourself, pipsqueak,” Hunk replied with a similar glare.

“Get that thing and hit me!” Myzak growled towards Cyrenna, signaling for the witch to get the trident. “One bite, and he's shrimp toast!” Myzak said as him and Hunk continued to fight. Ignoring the two, Cyrenna turned back to Sofia, who still held the trident in her hands.

“Sweetheart, hand me my trident now,” Cyrenna coaxed gently with an open hand. Sofia turned to Keith with a sad expression.

“All this time, and you never told me?” Keith frowned and winced as his daughter’s voice cracked.

“Kept the most important secret in her whole life from his own daughter,” Cyrenna said as she placed comforting hands on Sofia’s shoulders.

“Please, give it to me, Sofie,” Keith asked gently with an open hand.

“No. Hand it to me,” Cyrenna fought back against Keith’s words “it's for your own good,” the witch said with a soft smile.

“She's lying!” Keith protested desperately.

“I've given you what you've always wanted,” Cyrenna replied swimming to Sofia’s other side. “He's the one who lied to you all these years,” Cyrenna said giving Keith a smile.

“I was trying to protect you,” Keith defended as he swam closer to his daughter.

“By fencing me in?” Sofia snapped with a glare. “You knew how much I loved the sea. Why did you keep the truth from me?” Sofia asked, Keith shook his head softly and sighed. At this point, Hunk and Myzak had stopped arguing and watched the scene unfold.

“Sofie, listen to me,” Keith said as he cupped Sofia’s cheek gently. “If there was one thing in my life that I could do over, l…” Sofia pulled away and swam up to Cyrenna. A glare sent toward her mother.

“Too late, Mom,” Sofia said as she started to hand the trident over to Cyrenna.

“Sofie no!” Keith cried out as Cyrenna grabbed the trident before he could stop it.

The trident glowed green and flashes of green lightning erupted from the trident. Cyrenna laughed and shot off the ground, holding the trident above her head. Keith, Sofia, Hunk, and Pidge watched in horror as Cyrenna now had the trident.

“All the power of the seven seas at my command!” Cyrenna cried out with a smile.

“Hello! Can we get with the programme? It's still a small world down here!” Myzak called from his spot on the ground. Cyrenna grabbed Hunk and Pidge with two of her tentacles and tossed the two into an ice cave, the two dazed from where their heads hit the wall. Cyrenna then used one of her tentacles and grabbed Keith.

“Mom!” Sofia called out as she tried to grab her mother. However, she was stopped when Cyrenna thrust the trident in front of her. Sofia backed up and stared at the witch who held her mother hostage.

“Your mommy was only trying to protect you from moi!” Cyrenna said with a wicked smile. “What he did, he did out of... love,” Cyrenna said as she mashed Keith’s face around. Keith glared at the witch and pulled his face out of her grip. Cyrenna smiled and turned back to the princess.

“Little Sofie's been a very naughty girl…” Cyrenna taunted as she stepped closer to the girl. “Stealing from her own grandfather” Sofia’s eyes widened.

“My... My grandfather?” Sofia asked in disbelief.

“King Shiro, ruler of Altea, commander in chief of all of the oceans!” Cyrenna explained as the rest of the tentacle holding Keith, wrapped around his mouth. “Or at least he was, until a certain little thief came along,” Cyrenna sneered. Sofia turned to the witch from where she had swum up beside her mother.

“You tricked me,” Sofia said with a glare to the witch.

“You've got no one to blame but yourself,” Sofia lowered her head, the witch was right. “Tell me, Sofia, Is being a mermaid everything you dreamed? Was it worth it?” Sofia closed her eyes and sighed. However, with her eyes closed, Sofia couldn’t see Cyrenna’s tentacle. The tentacle wrapped around her and tossed her into the same cave that Hunk and Pidge were in.

“Sofie!” Hunk called as he caught the princess before she could hit the wall.

The three inside the cave flinched as Cyrenna used the trident to seal the entrance with ice. She stopped with a small circle left.

“Oh, and by the way, your time as a mermaid has just about expired,” Cyrenna said with a smile as she finished sealing the entrance. “Catch you later. I've got bigger fish to fry!” Cyrenna called out as she exited her lair, Keith still wrapped in her tentacles.

“Bigger fish! Now, there's an idea!” Myzak called after the witch, receiving no response, Myzak followed.

* * *

Meanwhile, the trio inside were trying to break the ice. They banged against the ice, but it was no use.

“We gotta keep trying,” Hunk said as him and Pidge continued to bang on the ice.

“It's no use. It's too thick,” Sofia said as she slid down and sat on the ground. Pidge lowered herself and sat beside Sofia as the princess started to cry. Hunk frowned and sat in front of the two “oh, Hunk, Pidge,” Sofia called out softly.

“I've ruined everything,” Sofia said as she buried her face in her hands and began to sob softly.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, outside the frozen lair, Sal and Janka sat on a piece of ice, back to back.

“We're guppies, man. Jellyfish,” Sal said with a defeated sigh.

“The great Sal and Janka, Cowards-slash-losers,” Janka said with a sigh.

“Well, at least we're alive,” Sal said trying to lighten the mood with a half-hearted smile.

“Yeah, if you wanna call this living,” Janka said with a depressed sigh. A light bulb went off in Sal’s head, the penguin stood up and turned to Janka.

“Okay, on the one hand, we can live a long, healthy life,” Sal started to say as he held up a fin. “Albeit as disgusting, pathetic, cowardly…uh…” Sal trailed off as he tried to think of his next word.

“Worms,” Janka finished with a frown.

“That's good. Good,” Sal said with a nod “cowardly worms,” Sal then stroke a heroic pose. “On the other hand, we could gather our courage,” Sal said as he climbed up the small hill of ice and snow. “Storm the fortress and be heroes,” Janka rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, until they hack us up into fish bait.”

“You're right,” Sal said with a defeated sigh as his shoulders slumped down.

Loud sounds caught the pair's attention and they turned to the entrance of the lair. Green flashes could be seen and the pair turned to each other.

“Sofie’s in there,” Janka gasped out with wide eyes. “She could be in big trouble. She may really need our help!” Janka said as they turned to the entrance.

“So what's it gonna be? A lifetime as worms or two minutes as heroes?” Sal asked softly as the flashing continued.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, away from her lair, Cyrenna used the trident to raise an ice throne. The witch still had Keith captive in her tentacles.

“All hail Queen Cyrenna!” Cyrenna yelled out with a huge smile.

“I'm hailin'! I'm hailin'!” Myzak yelled as he jumped back and ended up getting stuck in a piece of ice overhanging. Just then, a ship started to float into the area. Matt leading the charge.

“Hold on Keith!” Matt yelled as he flew “the cavalry's comin'!” Lance, from his spot at the wheel, glanced up towards the witch. He gasped with wide eyes as he saw his husband captive in Cyrenna’s tentacles. Keith caught his gaze and squirmed around trying to get free, but was unable to.

“Keith!” Lance called out.

“Ah! Prince Lance. Come to join the party? We're having a blast!” Cyrenna said as she used the trident to cut a glacier in half and caused it to fall towards the ship. The crew jumped to one side and landed on a chunk of ice. Lance, holding Blue, ended up on the other side. The group watching as the ship sunk.

“Oh, how dear Haggar would have adored this,” Cyrenna said with a smile as the ship continued to sink.

“Cyrenna!” Shiro thundered as he, along with Slav, and the royal guards swam up.

“King Shiro!” Cyrenna called in a mocking greet. “Oh, please! Is that the best you can do?” Cyrenna asked with a laugh.

“Release my son, surrender my granddaughter,” Shiro demanded with a glare. “And I shall spare you.”

“Ooh! What you gonna do? Throw the crab at me?” Cyrenna mocked as she backed away in mock fear Slav huffed as Cyrenna laughed. Myzak chuckled as he swam up to the king.

“Face it, Shirogane. You're all washed up!” the shark said with a grin. That grin, however, faded when Slav approached. “Uh oh!” Myzak said as Slav pinched his claws at the shark.

“I'm gonna be teachin' you some manners!” Slav said as he chased after the shark, pinching his claws at the same time.

“Now look at me. I'm bait!” Myzak moaned before being hit with the trident’s magic. The shark disappeared under the water and Cyrenna blew steam off the tips of the trident. Slav watched the spot where the shark had gone under.

Bubbles appeared and suddenly the small chunk of ice that Slav was in, ended up being inside of Myzak’s mouth. The shark had now been returned to his full size. Slav shrieked and jumped out of the mouth just in time, Myzak chomped down and landed on his side towards the water. The guards and Shiro moved out of the way just in time to avoid the shark.

“Oh, yeah! Look out!” Myzak cheered with a smile. Lance stood up and grabbed out his sword.

“Where’s Sofia?” he demanded angrily. “What have you done with her?” Lance growled out with a glare to the witch.

“Oh, you want to join your daughter?” Cyrenna asked as her manta rays tails wrapped loosely around his ankles. “Well, I think that can be arranged,” the witch said with a smile. The tails tightened and Lance found himself dragged under the cold water.

“Lance!” Keith cried out as he pushed Cyrenna’s tentacle away from his mouth. Slav jumped into the water and swam after the rays and a drowning Lance. Cyrenna’s smile faded when Matt started to pull on her hair with his feet.

“You are a very bad lady!” Matt said as he winked to Keith. With Cyrenna distracted, Keith was able to squirm out of Cyrenna’s tentacles. He then dove into the water and swam under the water. Cyrenna hit Matt with the trident and Matt froze in the air. “Very bad,” Matt grumbled as he fell to the ground.

Keith swam down to where Lance was being dragged deeper down the water. The rays seeming to be heading to the underwater part of Cyrenna’s lair. Keith grabbed Lance’s arm as Slav swam towards the tails of the rays. Going in between the two, Slav pinched their tails at the same time. The rays cried out and their tails unraveled from Lance’s ankles.

Keith pulled Lance into his ankles and quickly swam to the surface. Slav, however, had forgotten to let go of the tails and ended up being dragged as the rays fought back against him.

* * *

 

Sal and Janka swam into the entrance of the frozen lair, glancing around nervously. The pair failed to notice the huge shark swimming up behind them. The two froze when the cave went dark and laughter came from behind them.

“Goin' somewhere, boys?” Myzak asked with a huge toothy grin. The pair turned around and gave nervous smiles.

“Um, we're just lookin' for the little penguin's room,” Sal said with a nervous chuckle. Seeing no change in the shark's grin, Janka turned to Sal with a smile.

“Well, it's been nice knowin' ya,” Janka said as he turned to Myzak with a determined glare.

The walrus let out a battle cry and jumped onto the sharks back, holding onto the dorsal fin. Myzak started to buck and jump trying to get the walrus off.

“Now, that is one brave hunk of blubber,” Sal said in awe and amazement.

“I'll hold him! You go find Sofie! Janka yelled as Myzak dove in and out of the water. Sal nodded and sped off. “Hurry!” Janka yelled out after his friend.

* * *

 

The sun had started to set. Sofia, Hunk, and Pidge were still trapped in the sealed cave. Hunk and Pidge looking around for another way out. Sofia cried out as she felt her sides and legs started to hurt. The pair turned to Sofia in surprise as the princess moaned in pain.

“What's... What's happening?” Sofia asked as she started to feel short of breath.

Green magic surrounded her fins and soon Sofia found that she had legs again, her clothes from before turning into a mermaid were back on her.

“Oh, no!” Sofia cried out as she clutched at her throat. “Oh!” Sofia called out before she had to hold her breath, her ability to breathe underwater disappearing.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Sal was busy swimming away from a fast approaching and chomping Myzak.

“I thought you were gonna hold him!” Sal called out to his friend who was holding onto the dorsal fin.

“I am holding him!” Janka yelled back as Sal jumped on Myzak’s nose to avoid being chomped on.

“Nice fishy,” Sal cooed as the shark grinned at him.

“Ooh. Big fishy.”

* * *

 

Pidge and Hunk had turned into their fish and dolphin forms, which had grown over the 12 years. The two, along with Sofia, were banging against the ice. Sofia trying her best to hold her breath. 

“Hold on, Sofie!” Pidge called out as she and Hunk continued to bang on the ice.

“I'm gonna bust us outta here,” Hunk said as he ran into the ice. “If it's the last thing I…” Hunk ran into the ice and ended up hitting it to hard. “...do”, Hunk said as he fell to the ground. Pidge panicked and went to check on her friend.

Myzak had dove down into Cyrenna’s underwater lair and flicked Sal off his nose. Myzak chomped and Sal ended up in Myzak/s mouth. Janka’s eyes widened.

“Sal!” Janka cried out as he jumped on Myzak’s eyes, blocking his vision.

* * *

It was at this moment, that Sofia ended losing her breath and slowly fell to the ground beside Pidge and a recovered Hunk. Just in time to, within seconds of her falling, Myzak crashed through the ice causing it to break. Myzak hit the wall and knocked himself out. Janka swam through the broken entrance and swam to the shark's mouth.

The teeth shattered to reveal a scared and shaken Sal sitting on the tongue of the shark. “Another plan perfectly executed,” Sal said as him and Janka high fived.

“Sofie!” Pidge and Hunk cried out as Sofia was nearly unconscious now. The two struggled to keep her afloat, Janka swam on the other side of Sofia and helped Pidge swim Sofia up to the surface, Hunk and Sal following.

Slav was still being dragged by the two angry rays. The rays smiled seeing a low hanging icicle and separated so Slav would be hit by the ice. Slav saw the icicle and quickly tied their tails together in a knot. Slav then let go and watched as the two rays swam by the icicle, not realizing their tails were tied.

The pair ended up being pulled back and wrapped around the icicle tightly. The two blinked at each other in surprise and then glared at Slav who headed back to the surface.

* * *

 

The group jumped out of the water and landed on the ice. Sofia coughed up water as she rolled out of Janka’s fins and sat on the ice. Sofia looked up and gave her mother a small smile, Keith gave her one back as he held Lance in his arms.

“Fools! I have the trident now. And all the creatures of the sea are in my power!” Cyrenna exclaimed with an evil laugh as spears of ice began to rise out of the water. The merfolk and humans careful not to be stabbed by one. “I'm the queen of the sea!” Cyrenna yelled as she used the tridents magic to force merfolk after merfolk to bow, one after another. “And you will bow down before me!” the witch called out as she forced Sal and Janka to bow as well.

“Oh, this can't be good for the lower back!” Sal groaned as he bowed down.

“Pathetic fools! Watch and see how utterly powerful I can be!” Sofia turned as she watched Keith forced to bow down as well, powerless under the trident’s magic.

“Mom!” Sofia called out with wide eyes.

“The end begins for all of you with fins!” Cyrenna called out with a cackle.

Sofia glanced down and a smile grew as she saw feet instead of a tail. With determination, Sofia got a running start and jumped onto ice spear after ice spear. As Sofia climbed, she couldn’t help but hear each strike of the trident as the merfolk were forced to bow down. Sofia almost slipped as she tried to hold on, gathering her strength, the princess managed to pull herself up and climb the rest of the way.

“That's it, Shiro. Bow down!” Cyrenna said as she forced the trident’s magic onto the king, who was trying his hardest to fight back. “Bow down before me!” Slav looked to his right to see the king struggling, though the crab had also been forced to bow and couldn’t help.

“No, Your Majesty! You mustn't!” Slav said as Shiro slowly started to give up the fight.

“I'm sorry, Slav,” Shiro said as he was forced to bow down. “I have no choice,” the king said with a defeated sigh.

“Oh! Wishes do come true,” Cyrenna said with a sniffle as she hugged the trident close to her. “See that, Ma? Who's your favourite now?” Cyrenna called out as she glared at the sky. Unknown to the witch, Sofia was crawling the little way up to the platform. Avoiding the witch’s tentacles as she maneuvered her way up.

“It's over, Shiro!” Cyrenna called out with a smile, oblivious to the princess behind her. “I sentence you to oblivion!” Cyrenna yelled just as Sofia jumped up, grabbed the trident, and fell on his back on the ice.

“You!” Cyrenna growled out as the trident stopped glowing. “Just what do you think you're going to do with that?” the witch asked as she stepped closer, Sofia crawling backward until she reached the edge.

“Stay back!” Sofia yelled as she pointed the non-pointy end towards the witch with a glare. Cyrenna stared at the end for a moment before laughing.

“Wrong end, sweetheart,” Cyrenna snarled as she pushed the end away from her, and grabbed the princesses ankle.

With another tentacle, the witch tried to grab the trident but Sofia saw her opening. With the sharp end of the trident, Sofia stabbed the trident into Cyrenna’s tentacle. The witch cried out in pain and let go of the princess, holding her hurt tentacle close to her.

“Grandfather?” Sofia called out as she spotted the sea king, Shiro glanced up hearing Sofia call out. “I think this belongs to you,” Sofia said as she tossed the trident in Shiro’s direction, hoping the king would catch it.

“No!” Cyrenna yelled out as she reached out an arm as if to grab the flying trident. As a result of moving forward, the witch ended up pushing Sofia off the edge of the ice platform. The princess screamed as she fell through the chilling air. Janka bounded forward hearing Sofia scream and seeing her falling. The walrus landed on his back and Sofia ended up landing on the stomach. The princess closed her eyes and ended up passing out from exhaustion.

Shiro caught the trident and the trident glowed golden sensing his anger.

“Never again will you or yours threaten my family!” Shiro thundered as Cyrenna tried to use her tentacles as a shield in fear. “There will be no escape for you... ever!” Shiro said as he hit the witch with a blast of magic from the trident.

Cyrena yelled as she found herself encased in ice. With the witch frozen, and her no longer having the trident’s magic, the ice kingdom she had built began to break apart. The block of ice she was encased in broke at the bottom and the frozen witch crashed into the sea. Sal quickly pushed Janka towards where the others were safely put just as a giant chunk of ice fell where they were.

The ice finally fell down and sunk to the bottom of the sea.

“Mommy,” Cyrenna said, but her mouth didn’t move. The witch continued to sink to the bottom, followed by the picture of her sister Haggar. Never to be seen again.


	6. Here on The Lance And The Sea

When Sofia woke up, she felt warmth, and someone carrying her. She opened tired purple eyes and was met with the blue worried eyes of her father.

“Dad?” Sofia whispered softly, Lance let out the breath he had been holding and held his daughter close.

“Oh Sofie,” Lance gasped out with a relieved smile. “I was so afraid we'd lost you,” Lance said as he sat next to a worried Keith.

Sofia climbed out of her father’s arms and grasped Keith in a tight hug. Keith hugged his daughter back with a relieved smile.

“I'm sorry, Mother,” Sofia said softly as Keith held her close.

“Oh, no, sweetie. We're sorry,” Keith said softly as Sofia pulled away to look at her mother. “We should have told you the truth,” Keith said with a soft smile as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I didn't mean to hurt anyone,” Sofia said with tears in her eyes. “I just hoped I'd be a better mermaid than a girl,” Sofia said as she avoided her parents' soft gazes.

“Oh, Sofie, sweetie, it doesn't matter if you have fins or feet,” Keith said with a soft chuckle as he wiped her tears away with his thumbs. “We love you for who you are on the inside: Our very brave little girl,” Sofia smiled and glanced up as Shiro approached, trident in hand.

“Just like your mother,” Shiro added with a smile.

“Oh, Grandfather!” Sofia said as she hugged the sea king, the hug returned just as warm. He had missed his granddaughter. Keith and Lance shared a smile as Keith leaned against his husband, still as a merman.

“Sofie, I don't blame you for wanting to join us merfolk,” Shiro said softly as he remembered the same situation with Keith. “And because you're my granddaughter a most precious gift,” Shiro said with a smile. “A choice. You can come to Altea with me…” Keith and Lance’s eyes widened, though they realized it was Sofia’s choice to make, not theirs. “Or you can return to your home on land. It's up to you,” Shiro said as Sofia turned to her parents. Keith and Lance nodded with smiles, showing that they were behind her with her choice. Sofia thought for a moment before looking back to her grandfather with a smile.

“I have a better idea,” she said.

* * *

 

Sofia stood outside the wall with Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, Shay(and kids), Matt, and Slav. She was dressed in a blue skirt, purple blouse with blue ruffles, and a blue bow in her hair. Sofia turned to Shiro and nodded. The king handed his granddaughter the trident and Sofia aimed it at the wall. Using the trident’s magic, the wall started to melt away.

On the other side was Keith and Lance. Keith was dressed in black capris pants and a light purple blouse with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. Lance was dressed in black pants, a blue blouse with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and brown boots. Blue at their side, and the other humans behind them. Smiles on their faces.

“Now we can all be together!” Sofia exclaimed as the ocean rolled up to the white concrete stairs.

“ _ Whoo! _ ” Slav exclaimed as he jumped into the water.

“ _ I hear the music playing _

_ It's swinging and it's swaying _

_ Life is a  rhapsody _ ”

Sofia jumped into the water with a smile on her face. Shiro watching her with a huge smile on his face as merfolk started to rise to the surface.

“ _ Today we're so delighted _

_ Today we're all united _

_ Here on the land and sea _ ”

The merfolk smiled as they were once again reunited with the humans. It had been a long time waiting.

“ _ I see the sails are sailing _

_ Even the whales are wailing _

_ We're swimming fancy-free _ ”

Sofia climbed out of the water and climbed onto the rock beside Shiro. Shiro didn’t notice until it was when Sofia jumped on his back and the two tumbled into the water.

“ _ We're feeling better now _

_ We sing together now _

_ Here on the land and see _ ”

Keith was distracted by seeing all the merfolk and humans happy. Lance picked him up in his arms and jumped into the water. The two surfaced and shared a loving kiss.

“ _ La dee da, pick up your feet _

_ Move your fins and move your feet _

_ Life is sweet _

_ Life is grand _

_ Blowing bubbles with the bass brass band _ ”

Sofia jumped back into the water and met up with Sal and Janka. Pidge, Hunk, Matt, and Keith’s sisters swam up to Keith and Lance and the couple found themselves in a group hug.

“ _ Everybody now! _ ” Slav exclaimed to the people who were uncertain to jump in.

Sofia looked up and found the kids who laughed at her at the birthday ball.

“Come on in! There's plenty of water for everyone!” Sofia called out to the trio. The three shared uneasy looks before finally jumping in with smiles on their face. Keith and Sofia smiled as they floated past each other, the pair joining each other on a rock. 

“ _ There's no more stormy weather _ ” Keith sang as he gave Sofia back her locket, he had kept it ever since he found it in Altea.

“ _ Now we can sing together _ ” Sofia sang back as she fastened the locket around her neck.

“ _ In perfect harmony _ ” the two sang as they hugged with smiles.

“ _ We're feeling better now _

_ We sing together now _

_ Here on the land and sea _ ”

As the two finished signing, a wave sent them off the rock and back with their family.

“ _ Those on land sing _ ” Slav asked as he pointed to the humans.

“ _ La-de-da-doh _ ” they sang back to the crab.

“ _ Those below sing _ ” Slav asked as he pointed to a fish underwater.

“ _ Do-dee-do-do _ ” the fish sang with a small smile.

“ _ Life is sweet as sweet can be _

_ On the land and on the sea _ ”

Colleen and Coran joined the group in the water, smiles on their faces.

“Come on Blue!” Lance called out to the dog who smiled and jumped in the water as well.

“ _ We're feeling better now _

_ We sing together now _

_ Here on the land and sea _ ”

Sofia swam on her back with a smile. She didn’t notice that someone was behind her.

“Woah!” the two exclaimed as they bumped into each other. Sofia turned and found herself facing the mermaid she had bumped into when she was in Altea.

“Sorry,” Sofia said with red cheeks.

“Oh, hi,” the mermaid said with a smile.

“Hi,” Sofia said with a soft giggle. “Didn’t catch your name,” Sofia said, the mermaid smiled. 

“It’s Alana,” she said as she played with her hair.

Sofia sat on the rock with her family and friends, smiles on everyone’s faces. They all sang at once as Shiro created a rainbow over them.

“ _ We're feeling better now _

_ We sing together now _

_ Here on the land and sea _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want to see the outfits in this AU? Check out my DeviantArt account under the name animelover8224. The outfits will be under the fold titled Klance Little Mermaid 2 AU in my gallery.
> 
> Chat with me on my Tumblr if you'd like. Feel free to ask me anything there, my ask box is always open.  
> https://alchemygirl8.tumblr.com/

**Author's Note:**

> Want to see the outfits in this AU? Check out my DeviantArt account under the name animelover8224. The outfits will be under the fold titled Klance Little Mermaid 2 AU in my gallery.


End file.
